Come in, Out of the Darkness
by Scruff the Rat
Summary: Revenge—that's all Vincent has left in his life. He sure as hell isn't going to give that up, even if he has to put up with some annoying lady bear…
1. Remember the Reason

Here's another Scruff special, coming right at ya! This is gonna be my first full-blown story and I'm still working on the outline so please go easy on me. For those of you who might get confused, this story is about a certain bear who...well had rather "hairy" ending in the film Over the Hedge. (Please pardon the pun. Oh and if you haven't seen the movie, I suggest doing so this instant. Otherwise, this story might not make sense.)

Basically, this story is going to be about what happened to the poor guy after the events of the movie. (And yes, I seriously sympathize with him.)

Anyway, folks, sit back and enjoy!

**Disclaimer: The Over the Hedge comics and all elements are property of Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The movie of the same name and its elements (including Vincent) belongs to Dreamworks. All I own are one of the DVDs and my OCs. **

**Oh, by the way, the title to this story came from the lyrics of "Bella Donna," an old song by Stevie Nicks. I do NOT own that song either. I own a CD that has the song, but the song belongs to Stevie Nicks herself and the Modern Records Company.**

**Phew! How's **_**that**_** for a disclaimer?**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**BOOM!**

**THUD!**

**BOOM! **

**THUD!**

Like a makeshift heartbeat, these sounds were the components of the cacophony that ripped through the nocturnal silence of the dark green forest.

Soon enough, the source of these noises—a laser yellow bus—wheeled down an ashen-grey road, the trees walling the vehicle on both sides.

If one could fly along the bus and look closely (while avoiding the windshields of other vehicles), one would see the bus packed full with families—adults, children, people of all sorts of familial relations chatting, playing, laughing, doing at least something to express their happiness on the way home.

The emotions in that bus were bubbling so much, the animals that thrived in the forest found not catching the joviality that spilled from the vehicle in waves impossible.

…Well, all the animals except for one…

As a matter of fact, that exception was a tad busy at the moment.

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><p><strong>CRUNCH!<strong>

Woody splinters flew everywhere as a towering, black bear drove his fist into the wood of a tree, splinters becoming lodged into the mammal's hand as a result.

Not that the bear cared to begin with…

Actually, as soon as he felt his anger had been taken out on the assailed plant enough, the bear switched to nonchalantly picking the splinters out of his fingers and paw. He didn't even flinch as the slivers of bark left bruises and bloody cuts in the areas they once occupied.

There went his daily relaxation exercise for the day.

_'If only that tree were the real thing…'_

A dark smirk stretched across the ursine's snout at the thought.

For the last hour or so, the black bear had been pounding away at trees, their tender insides left exposed at the end of each slug fest.

And why was this bear committing such arboreal violence?

Simple... he was mad.

Well, he was mad_der_ than usual thanks to memories about a particular raccoon.

_'RJ…'_

No words could explain the hatred thrown into those initials.

Yes…RJ…the same raccoon that had been the bear's involuntary "business" partner…only to turn traitor on him and humiliate him so grandiosely…

Already foully ticked, the ursine's temper certainly didn't improve when he saw the yellow bus coming down the road, the vehicle's lemon coloring glaring almost offensively against the dark environment.

_'Tch, humans…,' _bear thought derisivelyas some of the children gawked dim-wittedly at him from the safety of their vehicle. He bared his sharp teeth menacingly, spooking the young spectators as a result.

Humans, humans, and more humans—they had been commonplace in this national park long before the new bear had even arrived last week.

_'Don't mean I gotta like 'em.'_

Those creatures were not a species the disgruntled mammal took to kindly. In truth, he always got a bit steamed when he saw those hairless apes trespassing in nature where they don't belong. Such resentment had been within the bear since cubhood.

Plus, he had to sneer at the how some of those kids he had intimidated were now snuggling into their parents' arms for comfort.

_'Oh joy. __**Families **__of humans…'_

Family…

This mammal utmost certainly did not want to ponder on _that_ accursed word...

Not when it reminded him of those meddling squirts RJ was so keen on protecting…

Surprisingly, though, the bear didn't go into another rampage.

No, instead he swallowed his pride, gave a derisive snort, and turned his back in the direction the bus had come from—towards the east…and Camelot Ranch Estates.

The black bear muttered dismissively,

"Ehh, them humans ain't any misfortune of my own anyway."

He was right. Why waste time on a bunch of idiotic people passing by?

"Ol' Vincent's got better fish to fry-wimpier fish, but still better."

After all, his targets were waiting for him …whether they wanted to or not.

That same dark smirk embracing his face, Vincent walked away from his spot in the silver moonlight and into the midnight darkness.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to review!<strong>


	2. Which Way?

**That's right, folks! This story's still going strong! And I'll be adding an OC as well. She might remind you of a certain blue fish... **

**Anyway, Over the Hedge does not belong to me. The movie and the comic strip each belong to their respective owners.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**GRR!**

Before anybody asks, that was NOT Vincent growling.

**GRRRRRRR!**

Well, at least not intentionally…

The big guy's stomach was rumbling insistently, its relentless pangs begging the bear for nourishment.

"Oh pipe down…," muttered the annoyed bear, stopping in the middle of the green, green forest.

Man, this day was **not** starting out well.

Vincent hadn't had a bite to eat since yesterday morning. Oh sure, his will and mind were willing to go all the way through sheer lust for payback…

Unfortunately, their digestive companion begged to differ.

One skinny rabbit, a bushel of berries, and a bunch of bugs, altogether as a diet, were _far _from sustaining after all.

Vincent held his stomach as the poor thing continued to whine at its starvation.

_'Damn…there's gotta be decent grub somewhere.'_

Frustrated, the black bear scanned the forest for any potential meals.

Furry woodland critters, fruit larger than a measly berry, or, heck, a picnic basket even—anything to shut up his gut would do.

Then he saw it.

A small town…

Towns had people.

People meant food…and _lots_ of it.

Immediately, Vincent's thoughts made a flashback to memories about a familiar cave, and a familiar vending machine…and a familiar fuzzball.

With great willpower, Vincent subdued the impulse to growl and sock another hapless tree.

_'Easy, there, big guy,'_ Vincent thought to himself, shaking his head to steady himself mentally, _'Remember the __**last**__ time you let your hellfire temper get the best of you.'_

No, never again…

Temper tantrums were just like crying: nothing done but lousy feelings amplified.

Plus, the ursine was in no mood to be epically humiliated again. His mortifying mishap with RJ and that godforsaken, oversized hair clipper had taught him better than to repeat the same mistake twice.

"Although," the bear added, his eyes now sporting a devious and cruel glint, one thick eyebrow raised, "nothing wrong with a little entertainment."

Humans _were_ a pretty jumpy species after all.

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><p>Case in point...<p>

"Run for it!"

"AH!"

"Call the Rangers, call the Rangers!"

The whole street was a scene of pandemonium crashed cars everywhere. Interestingly, no one had been hurt.

Then again, those vacant cars could have been crushed by the exodus of horrorstricken humans.

Man, could people wreck havoc without even trying or what?

Then again, fear can make us do amazing things…especially when we're face to face with a hulking bear and a…

Wait a second...was that an iPod?

No…wait…yes; the bear- or bear_ess_ to be exact- definitely had an iPod. The device's earphones were in her ears and led down into thin white strands that ran across the female's front and ended in one of the pockets of a brown belt strapped around the bear's waist.

As if that peculiarity wasn't eye-catching enough, the cinnamon-colored bearess was even holding a map in between her delicate paws, eyes scanning the map meticulously with an odd mixture of tired frustration and childish impatience.

If one didn't know any better (or not too busy shrinking away in terror), one might say this bear woman was a tourist.

She sure looked lost enough to pass as one.

_'Oh…fudge nuts; I knew I should have made a right turn at Albuquerque. Or was it Cheyenne?'_

"Umm, Austin," she randomly threw out as if those words would jog her memory. She only frowned pensively after her mind came up with nothing.

Scratching her head in bafflement, the bearess continued her way down the deserted street, obliviousness blinding her to the remnants of the panic her arrival had incited.

_'Hmm, there's gotta be someone in this town who knows the way.'_

Continuing her thought process, the bubble-minded bearess stuffed her map under one underarm and with her left paw tapped her chin- or at least the closest thing she had to a chin.

_'Or at least a good snack bar. Navigating is ex-__**haust**__-ing.'_

**GRRRR!**

Apparently her stomach was in full agreement. It needed food…and fast!

"Oh, don't worry little fella," the bearess cooed, speaking to her stomach as if it were a disgruntled infant. "Auntie Abby is going to get you a big, sloppy sandwich. Would you like that?"

This time, the stomach's groaning had a bizarre uplift in octave that lasted momentarily.

Abby patted that big belly of hers as if it really_ had_ spoken words of approval at the promise.

"That's the spirit! Now just hang on tight. We gotta find a place to eat first!"

With _that_ unique conversation now out of the way, Abby merrily continued her way down the empty town.

Yes, she was going to find her way.

She was going to feed her ailing stomach, too.

And she had no idea of the run-in she was about to have with fate…and a very, **very** sour bear.

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><p><strong>Alright, I think I'm starting to get a feel for how I want the story to flow. Man, pre-writing helps!<strong>

**Don't forget to review!**

**Abby: Pretty please?**


	3. Off Kilter Encounters

**All I own are Abby and the other OC that appears in this chapter.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**BOOM!**

There went the battered blue doors to a deserted Subway restaurant. They sailed all the way across the food room before crashing into the far wall and being reduced to splinters as a result.

No one was going to be using _those_ doors for a while.

"Hmm…," hummed the bulking black bear that stood in the entrance. Golden-brown irises scanned the room in slight curiosity. The entire area was in moderate dishevel for some reason—whatever said reason could have been, Vincent didn't give a darn about. His ears perked up the moment his powerful nose caught a whiff of the food selections stored at the distant counter.

"Well, I'll give the human who came up with this Subway idea props…at least this place's got _real_ food."

Vincent wasn't joking.

All the other restaurants he had, ahem, "visited" earlier in this town had all been those murderous fast-food joints—nothing but food (if the slop those places had could even be called that) full to the brim with fat, trans fat, cholesterol…

For crying out loud, the list could go on and on!

Vincent couldn't suppress the urge to mutter to himself in disgust. _'Bleck…why so many damn humans don't mind stuffing those guts of theirs with crap like that…'_

The black bear momentarily left his thoughts on hold to shake his head in bafflement.

"I don't even want to know."

He had seen copious times what the "food" at those death trap excuses for eateries did to humans. He was in no rush to find out what that stuff would to _him_.

Dismissing such thoughts from his mind, Vincent easily closed the distance between the counter and himself.

The moment he reached the food selection, Vincent stooped over to see what sort of morsels this place had.

"Let's see," pondered the bear, rubbing his "chin."

_'I can get regular foot-long Italian bread with pepperoni, pepper jack, tomato, and onion or I can pick toasted rye bread with American cheddar, a few pickles, olives, lettuce, and a dash of mustard.'_

…

The entire glass barrier for the food was thrown out the window and instantaneously smashed to bits by its impact with the ground seconds later.

_'Or I can just make this a smorgasbord.'_

In a few seconds, Vincent had managed to create a monstrosity of a sandwich, complete with all cheeses, sauces, condiments, meats and vegetables.

Actually, scratch that last part—the sandwich had_ nearly_ all vegetables.

That last part was due to the lack of jalapeños.

Reason…?

Simple…

Vincent deplored those scorching little suckers… almost as much as he deplored a certain raccoon.

Regardless, the black bear smirked in satisfaction at the meal he had whipped up for himself.

"So nice…and all mine," the ursine chuckled in satisfaction. Vincent settled his caboose into a chair behind him and settled his feet on a nearby table.

_'Finally, some decent grub…'_

Reclining back in the chair, which was already sagging from the added weight, Vincent unhinged his jaw to orally accept the edible delight...

"Hey!"

Only to be jolted out of his seat by an unfamiliar voice…

Land on the floor back-first—_hard_...

…Then receive a face full of his ill-fated lunch.

Even past the food remnants that the covered the bear's eyes, one could tell right off the bat that the bear was well past anger now.

He was going on livid.

_'Somebody's in for a very...very…__**very**__ unhappy ending.'_

And Vincent was going to make sure he himself drenched out every possible ounce of enjoyment from bringing _about_ said ending.

Emitting a threatening growl, the black bear furiously wiped the slop from his eyes and shot up, his broad back to the perpetrator responsible, muscles rippling in his shoulders in preparation for the up-coming beat down.

"Y'know, if there's one thing I hate the most in this world," Vincent started in an alarmingly chill tone.

The next words, however, were tainted with primal fury.

"It's being interrupted during my 'me' time."

Indeed, Vincent began cracking his knuckles ominously and swiftly revolved in place to see the smartass he'd been given the pleasure of murdering.

He never would have expected what he saw instead.

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><p><strong><span>Meanwhile...<span>**

Slightly further away in a simple suburb off the edge of town, the morning sun scampered up a vanishing dark blue sky, auburn light casting evanescent shades of red and gold while also illuminating a crisply groomed blue jay that descended upon a deserted, crimson birdhouse and landed on the outreaching, wooden post. The azure avian coughed daintily to clear his throat a bit and then uttered a soft, merry tweet. Then, hopping along the length of the post and towards the entrance, the blue jay poked his head to view into the miniature house…

He pulled his head out immediately afterward and kicked the accursed structure!

_Not_ his best of ideas...

The ill-tempered bird's only reward consisted of a throbbing foot, which he nursed by rubbing with his wings and shouting profanities at the same time. He hopped up and down on the post for a few minutes until his mind could run out of insults for his potty-mouth beak to spit out...or until he fell off—whichever event came first.

"YEOW," he wailed piteously in a baritone, African-American toned voice, "damn it, those stupid humans—can't even bother themselves to change a freakin'—"

"Yoohoo…!"

Frozen in mid-rant, the avian, his agony completely forgotten, swiveled his head around to see who had just spoken to him...and so cheerily, for that matter. He lowered his claw and wings as the sun finally broke free of the horizon, casting more light on the scene. Yet still, the blue jay saw no one.

He could only raise an eye-ridge in perplexity as he narrowed his eyes a tad, continuing to crane his tiny head all around still. "Hello? Who's there?"

_'I coulda sworn I heard another bird.' _After all, ever since that new and (quite frankly in the opinion of both the local animal _and _human population) bizarre exterminator had come onto the scene, only critters of the winged variety had the gall to venture near the humans' neon green backyards.

"Down here!"

The blue jay sighed in relief, thankful that he wasn't starting to lose his mind, and then angled his eyes and head downward…

...Only to come face to face with the expansive emerald eyes of a gigantic black bear, who had somehow climbed up via a tree right next to the pole, too...!

...

"GAH!" screamed the blue jay shrilly.

"GAH!" screamed the bear back just as shrilly. The ursine almost lost (his?) grip and had to reaffirm a steady grip on the tree.

At this point, the avian had his back to the front of the birdhouse, his chest heaving from the tense situation. Yes, he could have flown away, but_—'Wait a sec, what am I thinking? __**Of course**__ I can fly away!'_

Deciding not to berate himself yet for his own fear-induced slowness, the blue jay opened his wings and dashed off into the air, managing to escape the audacious "attacker." He could have sworn he heard a voice ring out, though, but the air was already rushing in his ears, so oh well. Besides, who would ever _want _to listen to the person having you as dinner?

Blue Jay laughed loud and haughtily as his wings beat triumphantly. Even without looking back, the haughty avian could easily imagine the ursine's look of disappointment and outrage at being denied a meal. "Did I disappoint, buddy? Did I? Well, too bad, so sad! Ha, ha, ha!"

Eventually, of course, he had to land—hey, flying's not easy when you're doing it on an empty stomach—so Blue Jay made a touchdown on the outpost of another birdhouse...strangely identical to the one he'd just left. However, he was feeling far too good about himself to give a hoot about details.

In fact, in a flashy demonstration of bravado, Blue Jay cleared his tiny throat before saturating the early morning atmosphere with his rich, booming voice.

"Yes sah, don't _evah _belittle the insurmountable wit and cunning of the final descendent of the Azure bloodline! For I, Anthony Aristo Azure, am more than a match for the simpletons and brutes that **dare** to oppose me! Yes, even at my most vulnerable, I stand here today thanks to my god given skills as well as to my evah inquisitive mind! So I beseech to all before me: rush not into challenging the brilliant and handsome Anthony Azure! Nah, tremble instead under the glow of my superiority." And like a preacher at the pinnacle of an almighty speech, the bird threw his wings out to the sides in encompassing pride! "Tremble, ha, ha, ha!"

Then he lowered his wings, the limbs exhausted from the demanding flight. Regardless, Anthony's satisfaction and good mood were far from spent. "Ah," he sighed contently, crossing his wings over his chest comfortably, "I amaze even myself sometimes. Best speech I've made all week."

"And it was very pretty, too!" Ah, how wonderful still!

_'An audience…?'_ Anthony mused in pleasant surprise, putting a wing to his chest in exaggerated gratitude, _'Well, to disregard a fan's enthusiasm is no part of __**this**__ daring and—might I add?—handsome bird's nature!'_

As such, Anthony, with his best winning smile (toothless of course—he _is_ a bird after all), smoothly swiveled his head to offer well-deserved appreciation to his "adoring fan…" "Thank you, kind—"

Unfortunately, his bravado fizzled out instantaneously as he came face to face, once again, with the same bear as before! Feeling far more dumbstruck than terrified at the moment, Anthony could only bring himself to slowly raise a feathered "finger" to the larger mammal's face, stuttering out lamely, "B-but...how did you…?"

Surprisingly, the slightly slim bear tilted its head in a quizzical manner and blinked its expansive emerald eyes. If fear hadn't been so dominant right now, Anthony would have sworn he'd have grinned a bit at the adorable quality in the undoubtedly young mammal's gestures.

"Were you trying to get exercise?" the feminine voice rang out from the bear's maw melodically, flowing out like crystal-clear water from a babbling brook. "You flew all around the neighborhood and came right back." She even made a little circling motion with one of her paws to indicate her point.

A few moments of silence encompassed the awkward-looking duo before Anthony, despite having all sense of horror and confusion now overwhelmed by a feeling of ironic frustration, kept an even face as he gazed back at the neighborhood around him and the lady bear.

Anthony suddenly slapped a wing to his face with a distempered groan, much to the bearess's innocent amusement.

The lady bear fibbed not; this suburb, compared to others, had relatively sparse residents. In fact, one could easily take a single step and suddenly end up in the forest and vice versa. Needless to say, there weren't too many hiding places for the distraught blue jay to have flown to.

"I see, "muttered the blue jay. He had never felt so idiotic in his entire life. Well, okay, he'd been made a fool plenty of times in the past, but, hey, pride is a man's best friend, right?

"Then in which case..."

_'Might as well just accept the music and face it like a man…' _Anthony decided in resignation. So with an air of heavy semi-solemnness, the preacher-like avian raised his wings up to gesture a "time out."

"Now, lookie here, I know I look like a pretty decent meal, but hear me out first!" He didn't even notice the befuddlement in the mammal's eyes as he proceeded with his lame pleas.

"Ya see these wings?" He even revealed said body parts to the baffled bear. "Ya see these scrawny legs?" Then he did likewise with those limbs. "I barely even count as an _appetizer_, for Lord's sake! Even a housecat couldn't live off'a this—"

A calmly waved paw and a heartfelt giggle cut the frantic avian's ramble off. "Wait a minute; you actually think I came up here to _eat_ you?"

_'Wait…what?' _The blue jay was now scanning the bear as if she had two heads. Up until he'd answered back, the beak had been left agape, frozen in mid-conversation by the lighthearted tone in the female's voice.

"Yeah," Anthony responded slowly, not sure where or even if she was going somewhere with that odd question. _'Does she want me in a false sense of security or somethin'?'_

"...what _else_ should I expect a bear to do?"

One blink—that was half of the bear's response; the other half was…

"Ask you for directions?"

Then there came _another _few seconds of awkward silence, these ones even weightier than the last…and this oddball was even smiling like a nut! For what reason, Anthony Azure did not know.

_'I don't even think I __**wanna**__ know, to be honest with myself.'_

Even so, though, Anthony couldn't deny a sense of…fascination. Most ursines the bird had had the misfortune of meeting, whether male or female, adult or cub (though especially adult), usually tried to have him as a light snack right off the  
>spot. <em>This<em> bear, however, showed more docility than one could find in certain breeds of domesticated dog and more sweetness than could be found in a bag of Starbursts.

"Why?"

That word was all the bird's mind had the capability of churning out at the moment. He was still frazzled by the absurdity of this situation.

Luckily, this bear was the type of mammal that had unfathomable patience.

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><p>"So let me see if I follow you right. You just wanna to find a way to your friend."<p>

"Yep!"

"However, in the process of finding that way, you've done gotten yourself lost as a result...

"You got it!"

"—and now ya in dire need of somebody who can guide ya to your friend's place."

"Well, at least as close as you can actually get me…"

The current conversation between Abby and the blue jay—who had introduced himself more simply as Tony—proceeded as the two strolled down the main street that led to the town's Subway.

Well, _Abby_ was the one strolling. Tony merely perched on her right shoulder, enjoying the ride. Plus, the bearess was just as hungry as the avian. Like a certain other black bear, though, Tony did not approve of the junk being served at the other eateries. Abby did not disagree in the slightest...probably because she hadn't the slightest idea what the bird had been talking about.

Anyway…Tony shook his crested head sympathetically. "Mm-mm-mm, well…," he put a wing to his chin, deep in thought. "I know some of these parts pretty well. I'll give myself that…,"

Unfortunately, Abby chose now, of all times, to get uncontrollable and perky by abruptly commencing to bounce up and down repeatedly like an overjoyed child on a sugar rush. As a result, the poor blue jay nearly slipped and had to maintain a fierce grip on the woman's shoulder—_not_ a manageable task for the fingerless. Or the easily queasy for that matter…

Oblivious to the strong discomfort brought to her newfound companion, Abby continued her merry hopping, front paws clasped together, squealing all the while, "Oh thank you, thank you, this is so awesome of—"

Tony raised his primary feather to halt her…and regain his perch before waiting a short while for his disorientation to subside.

"BUT….I can't promise ya that I'll get ya far…or keep ya safe for that matter."

Abby's cheerfulness dissipated at those words. "What do you mean?"

The blue jay could only sigh heavily at his companion's naiveté. This young woman had _much_ to learn about nature.

"Exactly what I mean," Anthony retorted pointedly, attempting his hardest to remain patient, "...is this…Sure, there're some parts –like the woods around this here town—that are safe and easy to pass through." He gestured a wing to the surrounding area.

"Other parts, though…they will eat you alive…literally. Believe me when I say that the forest is darker in more ways than humans and some animals think."

He stared long and ominously into Abby's eyes, waiting for effect and for the significance of his words to sink in. Indeed, a frown slowly crawled over Abby's muzzle as the dark significance and weight of her companion's words ominously dawned on her. Her eyebrows began furrowing a bit in nervousness.

Suddenly, as quickly as Tony's grim, dour demeanor appeared, it vanished, replaced by a more upbeat and whimsical air. "What you need, sistah, is a _real_ orienteerin' expert—a professional who not only knows where to go and where not to go, but also a veteran of _na_ture!"

Despite being slightly spooked by the avian's words form earlier, Abby quickly regained her normal demeanor then put a paw to her chin in optimistic anticipation. "Ooo…sounds exciting. Where can I find one?"

Stretching his wings out first before folding them back in, Tony merely shrugged. "Oh, there's gotta be some foo'—I mean, _gentleman_ around here somewhere who could guide ya."

Tony suddenly gripped his stomach, from which there came a pitifully growling sound.

"But…nobody's going anywhere until this here birdy's done satisfying his aching belly, ya hear me, kid?"

"Oh, I hear you— loud and clear!" Abby replied in full earnestness, nodding her head fervently. She even stuck a finger to her chest and beamed in a manner of half-serious, half-playful dedication, making dead sure to keep her eyes on the road as she did such. "Don't worry! I'll get you to the restaurant faster than you can say—"

"Oh and, uh, one more thing, Ab…," Tony gently interjected.

Same grin never leaving her face, the cinnamon bearess shifted her vision back to her miniature friend. "Yeah?"

With a half-lidded, blank stare, Tony pointed back the way they came. "You just passed our stop."

Abby scrunched her eyebrows at the avian in perplexity before looking back the way the duo had come.

Sure enough, they—well Abby...had passed the eatery without even noticing. She instantly rubbed the back of her head and grinned sheepishly at her obliviousness.

"Oh..." was all she had to say as she retraced her steps and gaited up to the restaurant entrance. _'Ah well, I'll learn as I go along! No big deal…!'_ she decided blithely, shrugging off her slight "oopsy-daisy."

Tony, on the other hand, could only give a facepalm at her obliviousness. _'Oh Lord…this child ain't long for this world, is she? Oh well, might as well hang on to __**this**__ one…she could prove useful in the long run.'_

"So, Tony, you said we can make whatever sandwiches we want here right?" Abby, her verdant eyes trained on her fine-feathered friend, did not see the third occupant of the restaurant…and probably would have walked straight into him and knocked all three of them down if Tony hadn't prevented that event in the following manner:

"Yeah, that's the gist of it, Abby, my dear. Luckily, there ain't no humans around to catch us, so—Hey!"

And so fate began…

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><p><strong>Just so everyone knows: the chapters are going to get longer—much longer.<strong>


	4. How About a Deal?

**I only own Abby and Tony. Vincent belongs to Dreamworks.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Vincent needed a couple of minutes to fully recover first—not only from the shock of the loudmouth bird's guttural shout, but from the unforeseen encounter with another female of his own species after so many years. When said shock finally wore off, though, he, with a scowl, lifted his bulky body off the black-and-white checkered floor and dusted himself off before landing his eyes back on the furry woman and her bird friend—this time with a searing glare.

"Who—the hell—are _you_?" Vincent's voice, deadly low at first, ascended an octave with each succeeding fragment of sentence. Someone _still_ felt a tad irked about his wasted breakfast.

Much to his hidden satisfaction, the female gasped lightly and clasped her front paws meekly, her countenance brimming with childlike disquiet.

"Um…," so lost in thought was she, the next number of seconds—ten to be exact—were fully occupied with her stuttering. Poor thing must have been drowning in embarrassment! Heck, she almost tripped over her own feet, a feat that earned her a disapproving look from the blue jay on her shoulder—not that she noticed anyway.

"I'm really, really, _really _sorry! W-we didn't know there'd anybody else in here." She even waved her cinnamon furred frontal paws frantically, almost as if in futile hope that aforementioned gesture would calm the livid male before her.

No such luck.

"Tch," scoffed the larger ursine. _'Like I ain't heard __**that**__ before…'_

"Now you know. Now get out," Vincent snidely remarked with a phony smile before he dropped it into a frown and growled, making dead sure to add a touch more venom to his command by baring his gleaming canine teeth.

Oh if only he had a camera to take the pitiful countenance of sorrow on this lady's face! She almost looked like she was on the verge of tears! Vincent could have laughed himself into hysterics if the situation been more in his favor.

_'So much for bein' a bear—even a spineless squirt like __**RJ's**__ got more guts than this chick!'_

Thankfully for the lady bear, however, her fine-feathered buddy gestured a time-out signal with his wings. Vincent and the female, in spite of the current situation, could not help perking up their eyebrows at the avian's interference—of course the latter, in her own case, couldn't help a sense of gratitude as well.

"Whoa, now, my ursinian brother!" the bird explained eloquently before stretching a wing to indicate his bashful companion. He hopped down from the bearess's shoulder and landed neatly on a nearby table. "This dear lady, you must understand, is_ purely _innocent. Where the blame truly belongs…," he raised both primary feathers upwards like index fingers…paused for a while…then pointed the feathers at Vincent, "is in you."

Oh how the word "priceless" couldn't even _begin, _let alone hope, to describe the dumbfounded expression on Vincent's face! No one, for the longest time, had ever been so forthright with the hulking bear before; this bird had some serious guts!

"What…?" he uttered slowly and slightly under his breath.

The bird simply performed an eye-roll that practically dripped with _'Dear mercy, are all bears this slow?'_

Bird, one wing akimbo, the other still pointing at the ursine, this time in exasperation, "Well, boy, what else do ya expect? Leaning back the way you were—didn't your momma teach you nuthin' about decorum?"

Eye twitching…throat rippling with impending roar…potentially dead bird in site…_'Why you little—'_

No biting remarks—or death threats for that matter— succeeded in escaping Vincent's lips, however, because at that very moment merry humming from the vandalized food corner floated into the male's ears, prompting him, as well as the blue jay, to furrow his thick eyebrows before swiveling his huge head, landing his irises on the bearess once more.

If not for the still dominant anger, Vincent would have considered the female's manner of food selection quite a sight.

Her back to the arguing duo, the slim bearess had leaned over delicately to gain herself a better view of the food selection, craning her head slowly as if to take in all the colors, smells, and even textures of the edible options before her. She had one claw delicately tapping her chin as she continued her soft humming; evidently she was planning to take her sweet time at the counter. Her sandwich, all the while, sitting in her other paw, slowly built up in content with each new addition its holder carefully deposited.

One detail about her in particular, though, struck Vincent as peculiar: her feet. Granted, one would be correct in stating how odd an accessory a _belt_ was for a bear—and such a large belt as a matter of fact…but for some unfathomable reason, Vincent, all emotions considered, simply couldn't keep his eyes from staring intently at the bouncy knock that the female's heels would continually do against each other. Rhythmic—the sound just sounded…so rhythmic…soothing even…

_'What the—', _Vincent snapped himself out of his vision-induced trance by vigorously shaking his massive cranium. _'Snap out it, Vincent! You're spouting nonsense, you idiot!' _

Where had that idea of 'rhythm' even come from anyway?

Vincent had little time during which to ponder this odd thought for he suddenly felt the sensation of tiny claws on his right shoulder—_bird_ claws. He craned his head, only to find the blue jay perched on _his _shoulder this time. A deeply thoughtful yet also interestingly amused grin dominated the avian's face.

"Quite a piece of work, huh…?" Even though the azure avian kept his eyes on the female, Vincent knew crystal clear that the little guy was talking to him instead.

Waving off the blue jay in disgust, the hulking black bear narrowed his golden eyes at Abby. He merely huffed once before stomping back to the counter to reconstruct a new meal.

Abby did not fail to react to the slight shove she received from him. "Oh!"

Neither did Vincent fail to respond to her mildly hurt expression. Still convinced she was faking emotionally, the burly male rolled his golden irises with a derisive snort before returning his greedy attention to the food. If she thought she could pretend to be all cute just so he could be all "aww" and go easy on her, then this chick had another thing coming!

'_You can drop the act now, woman. It ain't workin'.'_

If Vincent had left his gaze upon her for a second longer, though, he would have almost certainly changed his thoughts.

His female counterpart's emerald eyes suddenly became solemn—_deathly_ solemn— a quality that Tony, observing the spectacle from his table, found almost…disturbing in fact. The azure avian, even considering how little he knew of his companion, had expected tears at least—maybe more infantile blubbering—but this magnitude of seriousness from the outwardly upbeat bearess…

One could almost feel as if she were gazing straight through the larger male…into the darkest depths of his mind…an action that utterly contradicted the behavior of the quirky young woman the azure avian had met this morning. Just what secrets were lying behind that perky smile and those sparkling eyes?

_'Abby…what sort of secrets are you hiding?' _

All the while, Abby remained quiet, even after Vincent left the counter with his meal, a fact that caused Tony's emotions to switch from discomfiture to outright concern. Had that boorish bear's words affected her so deeply? Tony couldn't help shooting a glare to Vincent, who of which was seated at the same table from before, licking his chops before stuffing his face with the sandwich.

How dare this obese slob be so callous to a woman's emotions!

The indignant avian practically felt a scorching rebuke on the verge of departing his beak…except the rebuke never came. Something _else_ took its place—thanks to a certain bearess…

"Abby, what are you _doing_?" Tony could not believe what his teal and currently bugged out eyes were showing him: Abby, soft-hearted and eternally optimistic Abby, had just stepped up to the other end of the other bear's table—yet with an expression plain instead of goofy, Tony quickly noted with his sharp eyesight.

_'What now?'_ Vincent closed his eyes and sighed wearily.

He was no mood to be putting up with any more of this chick's pointless babbling; he just wanted to eat his meal in peace! Was that so difficult an idea to understand?

Much to the larger male's surprise, however, Abby said nothing. She merely shot a small, modest smile to him before sitting down on a chair and munching down on her own meal. Her eating sounds were almost as quiet if not quieter than her absence of words.

This time, Vincent took note of the strange behavior of the woman in front of him. He had just given her the cold shoulder and yet she still dared to sit near him…without saying a single word? A trick—she had to be pulling a trick on him, right? What other reason would she need to sit so close to someone who appeared like the kind of animal that wouldn't hesitate to maim her…or worse?

Then _it _came back—that stupid bouncing sound. Vincent immediately gritted his teeth—an action Abby thankfully either never noticed or acknowledged—and tore his stare away from her.

_'What the hell is __**wrong **__with this woman?' _A better question would be: What the hell was wrong with _him_? Here were the feet of a total stranger entrancing him so effortlessly, doing so through merely an obvious habit.

A habit almost like…

_'NO! Whatever you do, you ol' fool, do NOT go back there!'_

Vincent, all of a sudden, started strangling the remains of his sandwich between his paws in wordless fury, sauces of barbeque red and mayonnaise white leaking past his fingers as his eyes darkened considerably. The sudden change did not slip past Tony's awareness. Thus, the azure avian, alarmed for Abby's safety, swiftly fluttered off his table and onto his companion's shoulder, the cinnamon beauty (again) never noticing.

_'Now is looking like a brilliant time to be leaving—for __**both**__ our sakes.' _This male bear just _radiated _bad news. Much to the avian's surprise and relief, Abby proved to be one step ahead of him—though for a different reason as the blue jay was about to discover to his—and Vincent's—great chagrin.

"So…what brings you here?"

"What?" Vincent paused in the violent licking of his fingers—_'Seriously, where on this Earth did this man learn manners?' _Tony had to comment to himself— and took a confused glance at the female. Abby still had her eyes trained on her already half-eaten sandwich.

"What brings you here—well aside from an empty stomach that is?" A casual shrug accompanied her addition of the last part…only to be repaid with a gruff scoff from the other side of the conversation.

"Nothing for you to butt into, woman," Vincent barked. After tossing his ruined meal into a nearby trash bin, he stood up to leave this nosy parker, not giving a single care if he would hurt her feelings by doing so.

The male underestimated her resilience.

"Okay, sounds neat!" And just like a magician's face trick, the lady bear, looking up this time, gave off the cheesiest smile that Vincent had _ever _seen on anyone! You couldn't even_ tell_ anymore if Abby had been quiet and pensive a few moments ago.

_'Well…__**that**__ moment didn't last long…,'_ internally commented Tony once again, gawking slightly at Abby's uncanny ability to rebound to her bright and cheery self.

Vincent, as well, could not help but stare at the lady bear in wonder. Too nice for her own good, too timid for her own good, too nosy for her own good—and yet snapping from being neutral to being animated faster than a racecar. Just who exactly was he associating with?

As with most matters that perplexed him, Vincent simply grunted and dismissed the duo with an annoyed throw of the front paws. _'Oh, forget this.' _

With this resolute thought in mind, Vincent stomped out of the restaurant, thankful to be away from that place. He hated sharing his breathing space with others. Oh how short-lived his relief was…

"Hey, where are you going?" That chipper voice halted the black bear in his tracks. Vincent's shoulders cringed and thick fur bristled as the male bit back a vicious snarl. Did he _dare_ look back? One look back…Yep, sure as rain, there _she _was again…only—oh joy—she was even tailgating him now, too.

_'Oh Lord…can't I get just one damn break today?'_ Vincent groaned mentally as he slapped a paw to his face, pulling it down just in time to offer a worn out expression of frustration at Abby before turning on his heel and heading away from her once more.

"Abby…" the blue jay, having just fluttered to catch up with his overenthusiastic friend, muttered in warning.

No more glances back came after Vincent narrowed his eyes at Abby then indifferently walked off. "Nowhere."

Abby did not relent; she jogged to catch up. "Oh, sounds fun! Can we join you?"

Tony did not approve. "Abby!"

Neither did Vincent. "No."

Even then, the bearess would not accept defeat. "We can help you out with whatever you need help with if you help _us_ out!"

"Abby…," was all Tony uttered tiredly before deciding to throw in the towel leaning against the bearess's thick neck in defeat. "Oh, what's the point?" he muttered to himself.

Vincent, on the other hand, truthfully seemed…interested—he'd even halted his progress towards the woods; Abby took both signs as a promising. She grinned benevolently as the male ursine pointed a claw at her, trying his best to comprehend the offer being suggested…either that or trying to realize the reality that such a ludicrous offer was being offered.

"Let me get this straight: you want to help _me _out?"

Immediately, Abby nodded happily. "Whatever it is, I won't rest until your issue has been solved!"

_'More like __**laid to rest**__… cuz I do __**not**__ like the look in that man's eyes.'_ True enough, the bird could already see the gears turning in the other bear's head if the baritone humming, looking away, and chin-rubbing were any indications.

Indeed, Vincent was apparently considering Abby's offer rather seriously. Even so, though, he appeared more liable to reject it…leaving the poor young woman at a standstill in ideas. Feeling desperate, Abby, worried over the male's reluctance-about-to-become-rejection, attempted one last-ditch effort.

_'Well Abby ol' girl…here goes: the __**eyes**__!'_

Mustering the deepest breath possible, an act that made her lean chest huff out greatly, Abby closed her eyes as she did…only to open those peepers back up to reveal her emerald eyes now liquefied and misty and expanded to almost twice their size! She clasped her paws tightly and sweetened her voice considerably to solidify her maneuver.

"_Pretty pleeeeease_? I _really _need to get to my friend, Richard, before winter!"

"And 'I really need' you to get off my back," Vincent literally got in her face as his voice dripped with mock sweetness, fake smile to boot; he even went so far as to mimic her clasped hands.

"Unfortunately, I got a certain someone I gotta see myself." And in the flash of a second, Vincent returned to his usual snarky attitude and shot a thumb to the forest behind him. "I got places to be…and I _ain't_ got time to be playing sidebar trips. Now skedaddle!"

Harsh words from a harsh bear—Abby needed no tears to prove how let down she felt. The dear girl could merely watch as the foul-tempered ursine stalked his way to the tree-line. _'__**Now**__ what will we do?'_

A comforting wing patted the discouraged woman's nape. "C'mon, Abby. We'll find someone _else _to take you to RJ."

If he had gotten past the bushes a second sooner, Vincent would have never heard that last word. In uncharacteristic disbelief, the now wide-eyed black bear swiveled his head like a machine gun ready to fire to shift his sight onto Tony. "What did you just say?"

"Um…let's see," Abby began, tapping her nonexistent chin, oblivious to the fact Vincent's question hadn't been meant for her. "I mentioned a friend…then I said something about winter—"

She would have succeeded in counting off her claws hadn't a hurried wave of dismissal from the larger male cut her off.

"The name, woman…the name the bird just said…what did he just call this Richard of yours?"

Abby could only knit her eyebrows in naïve confusion, baffled by this bear's sudden interest in her friend's name.

"You mean 'RJ'? It's short for 'Richard Junior.' Richy never liked his birth name, though," she added casually with a shrug. "He also doesn't like when I call him 'Richy' either. In fact…," she tapped her chin again in reminiscence, "I don't think he likes _any_ of the nicknames I call him besides 'RJ'."

Oh if only the poor traveler and her friend had realized what sort of plot they had just helped smooth.

_'No way; it can't be true; this just is too __**good**__ to be true!'_ Vincent turned his back on Abby and Tony to smile a toothy, malicious smirk.

_'Nope, it's just too good,' _he mused in dark delight as he rubbed his paws together in cruel anticipation. Now he just needed to trick these saps into working with him…

One paw behind his back, Vincent pivoted on one foot to face the duo with the best convincing smile he could express and gestured a claw in the air. "On second thought, maybe I _can_ help you."

Oblivious to the whole world, Abby grinned ecstatically as her eyes widened in brightened hope! "You can?"

"You…can…" Tony sounded far less convinced than his larger companion. _Now_ this stranger wished to help them? _'What exactly is this bear up to?'_

Fake smile still going strong, Vincent strolled over to Abby to drape a hand over her slightly slim shoulders—and discreetly flicking off Tony from his "perch" in the process. "Yeah, in fact, I happen to know RJ myself."

Tony, after a painful landing into the empty hull of a nearby tree, scrutinized Vincent with silted eyes, far from buying the possible ruse. "Close friend of his?" he asked sarcastically, voice with a touch of coldness added in.

"You can say that." Vincent shrugged with a casual twirl of the paw. "Now, Miss, uh…" the hulking male raised an eyebrow at the bearess as he allowed the statement to taper off into silence.

Abby uttered a perplexed "hmm" before the message finally clicked in her mind.

"Oh right! I'm so sorry! My name's Abby! Abigail Griswell! Nice to meet you!" Then she gestured to the blue jay, who, just in time, managed to relocate himself onto her shoulder, the young bearess none the wiser to his temporary (and involuntary) exclusion from the conversation. "And this is my new friend Tony!"

"Yeah…hi…" the skeptical avian responded tersely. Someone still had a few trust issues concerning a particular bear—and for good reason. _'__**Definitely**__ gotta keep an eye on this one.' _

On the other hand, the little bird also _still_ smart from that unnecessary flick, so a little payback, just as soon as the Azure descendent came up with an appropriate plan, would have to be in order.

"Right, anyway, Miss Abby," Vincent continued on, purposefully disregarding the avian, "I do believe that Fate has led us right to each other. I so happen to know the way to where dear RJ lives myself."

Well, okay, that statement was partially a lie since Vincent had been drugged out for the majority of his trip to the Rocky Mountain region. Regardless, whatever this woman doesn't know won't hurt her and her little feather duster—yet at least.

"You do!?"

A slow but confident nod earned Vincent all the credibility he needed to win over Abby. The sow's eager smile grew at the same time the boar's malevolent pride did.

However, Vincent also earned an unexpected and, quite frankly in his own opinion, uncomfortable bonus: a warm, tight hug!

The only hope tumbling around in Vincent's mind was_: 'Lord, I'm so glad no one I know is around to see this.'_ Especially since this stupid hug just ignited a slight blush on his long muzzle…

Both Vincent and Tony, muzzle and beak agape respectively, could only remain stiff, the former in particular. No one had ever touched the surly ursine so affectionately for years, much less willingly!

In fact, Vincent, just after mentally recuperating from the momentary stupor, growled warningly and was just on the verge of removing this clingy lady off of him, but Abby, fortunately for her own sake, chose to end the hug right then and there, backed up a few inches, and graced the male with another of her apple pie smiles, her paws clasped behind her back, giving her the air of a shy schoolgirl meeting a boy one on one for the first time.

"What about _your_ name?" came from her mouth so sincerely, the male bear actually had to pause a bit at the tone.

Shaking his head, the addressed gruffly and curtly replied with a demanding hand gesture, "Vincent, now come on already." They'd already wasted considerable time. Fall would end soon and the chilling touch of winter never shows mercy, even to those in fur.

_'In other words, I gotta haul the asses of these two saps if I'm gonna get to that squirt RJ on time.'_ Hey, even matters like revenge required a schedule.

Luckily, Abby, (mostly) true to form, did not skip a beat in agreeing. "Huh…that's a weird name. Whatever you say, though, Vincent Now-Come-On-Already!"

Oh, how Tony could only roll his teal eyes at that statement. Words failed him at this point.

Indeed, Vincent, too, felt a bit at a loss as far as deciphering and comprehending this weird mammal concerned him for a moment. He stared at her as if she'd sprouted extra arms and performed a high-dive act.

_'Birdbrain wasn't fibbing about one thing: this woman really __**is**__ a piece of work.'_

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><p><strong>I am still alive…and so is this story. <strong>


	5. Rough Road Ahead

**The lyrics in here are from "Yeul's Theme" by Joelle. That song belongs to her and Square Enix. Vincent and all other related canon characters and elements belong to Dreamworks and Michael and Lewis. Abby, Tony, and Slim Jim and any other non-canon characters and elements are mine.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

_Many paths, many seasons I...have seen...Time has washed them away, just like...the sea..._

Indeed, much like the waters depicted in the lyrics, the melodic voice on Abby's iPod seemed to drift away into the open, rose-orange sunrise sky, vanishing into melancholy oblivion.

Unfortunately, it couldn't drift away fast enough in Vincent's opinion.

The unlikely trio woke up earlier this morning—_very _early, in fact ("Early bird catches the worm," Tony had said. "If we wanna get to Indiana before winter, we gotta hightail it and cover as much ground as possible.")—so, due to the growing nights and shortening days, the three animals were still walking in semi-darkness.

But the dim illumination didn't discourage Abby, not even in the slightest. Better yet, the young bearess took the shadows in stride, actually felt encouraged by them even, almost as if they were some sort of silent cheerleaders cheering her and her buddies on.

And thus Abby, her eyes closed and front paws behind her back, decided some background music was in order.

_So many fates and dreams...will become...tragedies..._

So sad...yet beautiful...Like a heartbreaking memory reaching out to you in vain...

And Vincent hated every second of it.

_To see you safe...to watch you grow—_

"TURN IT OFF!"

The whole forest went stark silent, almost as if the earth itself were afraid of testing Vincent's irate personality. Well, it certainly took care of all the fear for Tony because the avian glared balefully as the other male—the blue jay had actually been enjoying that song, in spite of its melancholy tone.

Abby, on the other hand, fearfully took a step back, perplexed as to how she unintentionally evoked Vincent's rage. How could such a calm song be upsetting?

"Wh-what's wrong?" she stammered uncertainly, quickly turning the volume down on her iPod. "Was the song off-key?"

Vincent grinded his teeth a bit before replying, "Just the fact that there was singing _period..._! Now turn it off alre—OW!" Something small but hard just collided with the hulking bear's head, cutting him off in mid-rant.

By pure instinct, Vincent turned his golden eyes to a snickering Tony, who remained faithfully and protectively on Abby's left shoulder. His hackles shot up as he welcomed the urge to bare his fangs. "You little—"

"Well now fella, that ain't no way to treat a lady! 'Sides, that _was_ a purty darn good tune, heh-heh-heh!" commented a scratchy, country-accented voice from everywhere at once—or at least the voice _sounded_ to be coming from everywhere to Abby and Vincent.

Tony, however, evidently knew quite well the mystery man from whom the voice had originated. Smiling, he perked up at the familiar Southern accent, warmly calling out, "Slim Jim...is that you?"

"Tony? Tony! Well, tighten my whiskers and call me Jamie, still a sight for not-so-sore eyes!" jovially exclaimed the voice. All of sudden a small, light grey form from above bounced on top of Vincent's head, rightfully startling the ursine as a result.

The blue jay emitted a hearty, baritone chuckle before jumping down from Abby's shoulder and fluttering down to the ground. Whether the laugh was at seeing the face of an old friend or at Vincent's flustered panicking was the _real _question.

"I oughta say the same for you!"

Back-flipping out of the reach of an enraged Vincent's paw, the form landed right to Tony's left side, revealing his identity as a skinny, wizened, light grey rat, a strand of wheat dancing in his lips. He smiled jovially as he examined the two bears then elbowed Tony in the ribs.

"Well now, new friends of ya's?"

Tony pointed a wing at Abby. "She is. This fool, on the other hand, unfortunately as fate has decreed," his voice became sarcastic as he narrowed his eyes on the male ursine, "is our guide."

Vincent snorted disdainfully and crossed his arms while Abby tilted her head at the newcomer in curiosity. "Say Tony, who is this?"

The blue avian wrapped a wing around the rat's shoulders. "This, Abby my dear, is the famous Slim Jim, Master of Jigsaw!"

Both bears suddenly shot looks of disbelief at the bird, unsure of whether they had heard that line right. Tony didn't need long to catch onto the reason.

"Not _that _kind of Jigsaw!" he explained, waving his wings in exasperation. **(1) **"I mean puzzles! Slim Jim here is a whiz at constructing perplexing and challenging brainteasers. In fact, just before he showed up, I was just about to let ya'll know that in order to pass through this section of forest, you hafta to solve one of 'em first."

Abby took a double-take, unsure if she had just heard right. "Really..?" she asked in jubilant anticipation, her frown slowly melting into a smile. _'Just when I think this day couldn't get any better!'_

Vincent could not believe his ears. He, too, expressed disbelief at the idea of having to solve a puzzle just to pass through...but with a different choice of words in mind.

"The hell—you can't be serious!" He turned his withering glare down upon the rat that amazingly did not faze at all under it.

"I ain't about ta to waste my time on games! 'Sides," the towering male smirked nastily before continuing, "It's not like this little squirt can stop us from movin' through."

Slim Jim nodded in agreement. "Heh heh, got that right, city slicker!"

Huffing in arrogant victory, Vincent accordingly turned to continue on. _'Annoyin' buzzard...but smarter than he __**looks**__...I'll give 'im that...'_

Abby, though, thanks to her sharp eyes, noticed something important about the path ahead of her and her friends—the path Vincent currently trudged along on.

"Uh, Vince," she raised a claw worriedly, "I wouldn't go down that path if I were—"

Two hidden rope loops in the grass got the point across for her as they suddenly each grabbed one of Vincent's legs by the ankle, hoisting him up high into the trees above, earning a shocked shout from him as a result. The ropes, though, were a tad too long because instead of leaving Vincent hanging in the air as (apparently not) intended, they actually bungeed him back down to the ground repeatedly, ramming his head into the unforgivably hard forest floor many, many times. **(2)**

"You...," Abby finished lamely. She had to wince at the poor guy's cries of pain. Even if he _had_ been unnecessarily cruel to her earlier, even a meanie like him didn't deserve such embarrassing and painful treatment.

Tony, on the other hand, had a rather sadistic smile on his beak as he enjoyed the show. _'Now __**that's**__ entertainment!'_

Jim, like his avian friend and unlike Abby, also delighted in the spectacle of a full-grown bear getting his tail proverbially handed to him (nothing personal, of course, in the rat's case). "But I neva' _did _said anythin' abou' my kin, did I?"

_'Kin...?'_ Vincent cringed warily at the word. He was nowhere _remotely_ prepared for anymore humiliation.

Unfortunately, karma begged to differ.

Right on cue, a heavy hailstorm of acorns shot from all the surrounding trees and relentlessly pelted the hapless ursine, who could do nothing but fumingly curse and frantically swipe away at the incoming projectiles in vain...at least until the ropes went slack.

Vincent barely had a second to realize gravity had become the only thing left to keep him aloft...

**BOOM!**

And so there he lay on his back on the bare trail, eyes closed, moaning, and dazed to the point of ludicrous disorientation. Abby ran up to the larger, dazed bear immediately and hoisted him up by lifting an arm under his armpits, grabbing his left paw with her other paw, and exerting her strength upward. (Believe it or not, this little lady possessed more strength than others would give her credit to have.)

The whirling in Vincent's eyes right after they reopened would have made Abby laugh in hysterics if she hadn't been worried about him having a possible concussion. Tony landed on the male bear's head to examine the extent of the damage.

"No need to worry, Abs. The dummy's just got a little bump—nothing serious." Did the avian sound a little too disappointed, or was Abby just being too particular at the moment? _'Oh never mind. We have bigger problems right now. '_

"Momma, I don't_ wanna_ go to school! I wanna stay home and bake cookies with _you_!" **(3)** Both animals just stared at the idiotically grinning, cross-eyed Vincent in disbelief. Okay, so maybe the damage _was _serious.

Abby and Tony shared a look before the former shook her slowly. Now was no time to be kidding around. "Oh, we have _got _to snap him out it."

Tony, however, begged to differ. He tapped his "chin" pensively. "Personally, I like him better this way." At least the dumb lug wouldn't be able to boss them around in this current state.

Abby shot a half-lidded stare and unimpressed frown at the bird. Even _she _wasn't clueless enough to fall for _that_ old trick. "Personally, I don't. That smile is kinda creeping me out, to be honest."

Her azure buddy raised an eye-ridge at her. "And how do you intend to snap him back to normal?"

Much to the avian's sudden confusion (and perhaps slight fear), Abby smiled goofily before dragging Vincent back to the beginning of the trail. Slim Jim sat on the edge of an old, nearby tree, leaning back on it and hands on his stomach as he hummed a tune that Abby instantly recognized as "Shenandoah" but ignored for the most part.

Shaking her head in unshakeable resolve, the decided bearess suddenly gripped Vincent by his hefty shoulders and began to roughly shake him, all the while screaming at the top her lungs,

"VINCENT, QUIT BEING UNCONSCIOUS NOW!" **(4)**

**WHAM!**

Echoes ricocheted in the woods as Abby's paw cut through the air like a knife through butter and rammed across Vincent's muzzle like a car against potential roadkill! The startling sound reminded Tony, who had whizzed off Vincent's head the moment he caught sight of the woman's flying paw and was now fluttering above the mad scene, of a B-52 gun going off.

It even managed to shock Slim Jim from his singing, invoking a wide-eyed stare from the rat.

_'Is that little lady goin' nuts?!'_ he wondered.

He'd seen the larger male's humiliation (and laughed his tail off at the scene, too) but never the loss of cognizance that had occurred due to the bear's landing. Jim honestly thought Abby had lost her mind, hitting someone for no apparent reason.

Yet Abby did not relent. Nor did she pay proper attention. After the third slap, Vincent's words, though they came out slurry, were of conscious effort.

"Abby...?"

**WHAM!**

His next words came out _much_ clearer the fourth time.

"ABBY! I'M AWAKE ALREADY, DAMMIT!"

**WHAM!**

Tony still could not believe the brief scene of violence he had just witnessed...from Abby, of all animals! And as if the lunacity of the scene were enough, the female plastered on mirthful grin as if she had just given Vincent the most beautiful gift in the world. Well, the gift of pain would have been an excellent guess in the opinion of the three men.

"Feeling better?" Abby asked in a chipper tone. Vincent shot a cross of comical disbelief and dumbstruck outrage before quietly responding, "You just slapped my face like a paddle across a horse's raw hide...and you think I'm gonna feel better after _that_?"

To his growing irritation, Abby rolled her eyes and smacked her gums like a teenager, although in her case, the actions actually came out more lightheartedly than anything else. She released him then tapped a claw to the larger male's head as if he were a little cub having trouble understanding a simple concept.

"I meant are you feeling better _mentally_, silly."

One of Vincent's lower eyelids twitched at her tone, but the bear merely replied evenly and slowly, "Aside from my wounded pride, yes, I am."

Abby clapped her hands so abruptly that Vincent nearly jumped. "Good because Slim Jim gave us our first puzzle!"

Vincent had to take a recollect himself at what he'd just heard. "Wait...what?" _'Already...? When did that little squirt...?'_

A little pressure on Vincent's shoulder caught his attention to one of his broad shoulders, upon which Jim now stood. "No worries, city slicker! It ain't nuthin' but a harmless maze! Just be mindful of some of the locals in these here woods. They can get mighty testy!"

Gesturing her hands to the forest to signify "After you," Abby stared expectedly at the disgruntled Vincent, her sunny smile never wavering under the male's cynical glare. "Shall we?"

Vincent rolled his eyes skywards and marched past Abby. "Let's just get this crap over with," he grumbled under his breath.

"Onward!" shouted the ecstatic female from behind. She even pointed a claw in the direction of her and her friends' trek.

At this point, a face-palming Vincent had only these choice words in mind: _'Lord, give me strength.'_

* * *

><p><strong><span>Miles away in Indiana: Former site of Verm-Tech HQ...<span>**

Thick walls of ebony brick, outlined by snow-white cement, lined all around the drastically renovated headquarters of Verm-Tech.

Smoky grey clouds choked the sky in a vice grip as the cold, heartless steel of various security devices shone and windows' glistening, glass glimmered in what little light could break through the dense cloud-cover. Only neon green grass planted in the center and around the massive grey stone-tiled courtyard provided any actual color to this otherwise dull, nauseatingly strict scene. Even then, however, the brightness of the grass stood so flashily, it appeared more plastic than real. Stretching out in the outline of a half-hexagon, the intimidating edifice almost seemed to be calling out to any who approached it, human and animal alike. If one were imaginative enough, one could envision those two angular extensions as arms pulling unfortunate victims in towards their final fate and never releasing them.

As for the "head" of this architectural behemoth, on top of the tallest of the headquarters' buildings, in the place of what used to be the comical logo of an exterminator knocking a miniature bunny repeatedly on the head with a mallet, boldly and fearsomely instead stood a towering, marble statue of a long-haired, feminine figure swathed in a toga. Her left hand held a sword, its tip raised skyward, her right hand holding a scale, positioned, interestingly enough, one level lower than the sword. Lastly (and perhaps the most unnerving detail of all), her left foot was stamping down hard on the stone body of an unfortunate rat.

This place, once enough of a nightmare already for any critters unlucky enough to be sent here, was now a mortal realm of damnation, the horrible activities within able to send shivers down the spines of even the _humans_ who worked here.

* * *

><p>A cacophony of howls and other sounds, both piteous and livid, rang through the empty chrome-colored halls of the building. Claws of various sizes could be heard, scraping in vain at the metal bars caging the occupants from sweet freedom.<p>

Yet one noise rose supreme above the absolute rancor: the clicking clank of high-heel shoes.

Marching down the hallway with an aura of decisiveness and ruthlessness, a beautifully pale woman in a black business suit and matching Mary-Jane shoes and white collared blouse brought her eye to a scanner, the one that would lead entrance through the door of the room she aimed to enter. The door slid open with a smooth whoosh and the woman ghosted into the perfectly rectangular, pristinely snow-white space without producing a single sound. Her bob-cut hair bounced discreetly and smoothly in the searing, white light of the room that phased her not even a tad.

After all, this place _was _her office.

She executed a perfect seating into her well-cushioned revolution-chair and crossed her feet in a casual manner that she hadn't had much luxury of (or time for) displaying in a strict profession such as hers.

Daintily clasping her hands in front of her chin, the woman hummed in thought...before her sharp, ice blue eyes caught sight of a framed picture at the edge of her mahogany desk. Beneath the frame's glass, a picture depicted the image of a rotund yet oddly built male, his three combed, brown hairs doing very little to hide his obviously balding hair. He was wearing an obnoxiously bright orange jumpsuit complete with all sorts of pockets, a black belt, and a pair of oddly huge black combat boots. His wire-frame glasses reflected the light of the camera that had taken this picture but did not hide the sharp, albeit slightly comical, light of ingenuity and cunning in the man's brown eyes.

The businesswoman gazed at the picture with tender compassion—or at least something that appeared to be that. Her silky, flowing voice sounded out what could most accurately be labeled as sympathy. Indeed, the female official's face had a frown and sad-eyed look full of familial pity as her slim, pale hands took the picture as gently as one would take an infant into his or her arms.

"Oh Dwayne, you tried so hard and tried every little tactic you could think of. You had everything in your reach. You had everything in spades."

She balled her free hand into a fist and rested her chin on it. "You never _did_ appreciate the finer things in life..."

**CRACK!**

Her slim fingers broke the picture's glass cover in half. The image fluttered helplessly to the ground, glass shards raining all around it like callous diamond tears, just before being mercilessly stomped to oblivion by one of the wickedly sharp heels of the woman's shoes, "_or_ pest control."

All faux warmth no longer persisted in her voice. Now, it held as much warmth as a glacier and as much comfort as a hawk on the prowl.

A few of her fingers flew to open her laptop, pressed the power-on button, and, as soon as the start-up screen popped up, tapped in a few keys with practiced elegance and efficiency. Within seconds, ten different images—some bitmap stills, the others actual footage—of two bears, a blue jay, and a rat flashed up in minimized boxes, some of the visuals blocking portions of others.

"You poor, poor animals...," a cruel smirk to put the Devil to shame slid across the woman's beautiful countenance. "Now it's _your_ turn." **(5)**

Delilah LaFontant had never lost a case yet...and, as God as her witness, she certainly did _not_ intend to start now.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, the baddie is in the house, ladies and gents! I'll include Dwayne in here, but he'll be more for laughs than anything else.<strong>

**The following references:**

**(1) I have never seen the movie "Saw" nor do I ever want to, but this joke was just too tasty to resist.**

**(2) Those of you who have watched "Brother Bear" will find this scene very familiar. X)**

**(3) Those of you who have watched "Space Jam" will find this quote very familiar. XD**

**(4) That line—the accompanying scene—was inspired by "Ed, Edd, n Eddy," one of my favorite childhood shows!**

**(5) I do not regret being inspired by the character of Du Bois of Madagascar 3.**

**By the way, am I doing alright with Abby's character? Feel free to tell me in your reviews!**


	6. Sitting on Pins and Needles

**I think my biggest mistake is that I let my focus on my stories hop-scotch all over the place. For that reason, I can never seem able to get anywhere with these things. And sorry about the maze; I wasn't quite willing to put any detail into it.**

**Abby, Tony, Slim, and all other original characters are mine. Vincent and any other anyone or anything else canon belong to Dreamworks and Michael and Lewis.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

Roars ripped through the evening time sky, sending birds of various species flying in hurried flight from the source of the terrifying source.

In all honesty, they had a rather valid reason to flee like that.

Vincent's time in the maze hadn't exactly been a pleasant one.

* * *

><p><strong>GAH! <strong>"CHRIST, I can't believe this!" **(1)**

He better believe it. He was_ feeling_ it. Landing on top of a slumbering porcupine—and waking it up into a bad mood in the same go—isn't a fate one would want to wish upon his or her worst enemy. Okay, maybe just a little bit...

_'Oh, Slim, have I mentioned how much I love your puzzles, man?'_ Tony mused in uncontained glee. He was having one heck of a time watching Vincent suffer. Serves him right for the way he'd been treating the avian and Abby earlier...

Karma and revenge, however, were the furthest things from Abby's mind. She winced as she watched Vincent slowly pick out the incriminating needles sticking out of his hindquarters; his roars of agony only made her cringe even harder.

"WHAT KIND OF GODDAMN IDIOT PUTS PORCUPINES IN A MAZE!?" Vincent suddenly shouted, startling his two compatriots into jumping back a few steps. No matter how sorry for or critical they felt on his account, both Abby and Tony had already learned an important lesson about Vincent's temper: it was better left unprovoked...well, less provoked than it usually is. Vincent could be a fearsome sight when his anger was higher than normal.

Even so, though, Abby, being the kind-hearted woman she was, had seen enough of the male bear having to suffer.

_'The least I can do is to help him out a bit_,' she thought. Without hesitation—and much to Tony's shock (again)—she fearlessly approached Vincent and tapped him on one of his hulking shoulders. His attention became hers instantaneously...although she probably would've done quite nicely without the bared teeth and burning glower.

"What...?" Vincent growled in a slow and dangerously low tone.

Abby closed her eyes and sighed meditatively to calm her nerves before looking back at the larger bear and plastering a giant grin on her muzzle. "Need some help?"

Vincent dropped his glare for a second and merely stared at her, as if she'd gone nuts. The glower returned in full force as he barked a harsh, curt "No."

Abby refused to let up. She crossed her arms and clicked her teeth in lighthearted disbelief. "Oh c'mon, don't you wanna be done with this faster?"

The unexpected question made Vincent pause in his painful needle-plucking. She kind of had a point. Too bad Vincent wasn't the kind of man to admit such a simple fact.

"I can do it myself."

_'Oh yeah, and I'm Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl.'_ **(2) **Abby flapped her gums then threw her arms into the air in ersatz exasperation. "You know as well as I do that's a bunch of hooey. Where's the sense in torturing yourself by doing the painful stuff all alone when there are others who can and want to help you?"

Dead silence followed Abby's unexpected piece of wisdom. Tony cocked a lopsided grin, not as surprised at the bearess's insight as before but actually impressed by and even proud of it this time. _'I'd like ta see Grump argue against __**that**__ logic.'_

Without a doubt, Vincent found himself at a total loss for words. That piece of advice sounded exactly like what _she _would've said...so long ago.

Besides, now that Vincent pondered over the matter, seeking assistance for his, ahem, unsightly predicament would certainly save him time. His plan would sink like the Titanic if he kept fooling around like this. Winter lay not too far ahead.

The bulky black bear shut his eyes and sighed in resignation. He just knew his pride was going to hate him tomorrow morning. "Make it quick."

Abby clapped her hands in relieved excitement, undeterred by the male's continued snappiness. "Okay, this shouldn't take but about a couple of seconds!"

Unfortunately, right after she plucked her first needle out, Vincent began roaring again. He hadn't been kidding; those little suckers were excruciating! Abby knitted her eyebrow in concern, unsure how to proceed with this delicate procedure...

Until a firefly lit above her head at the same time an idea struck her!

Taking a deep breath, she reached out both paws and started rubbing Vincent's broad backside in gentle, circular motions, making sure to stay clear of the needles. The male's body went rigid the moment it sensed her hands going over it.

"W-What do you think you're doing?!" Vincent demanded, shaking his body out of her touch and snapping his disbelieving vision at her. Abby smiled as easily as the sun was setting down the horizon. "Backrub."

Tony hopped forward, equally baffled by this woman's actions. "Uh, Abby, honey, I thought the plan was to de-point this man's backside...not give him a massage."

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "I know. I'm just trying to relax him. We'll be here all day if he keeps cringing and bellowing out like this."

Vincent chose to ignore the back-handed quality of those words and instead fixed a weary (and wary) stare on the enthusiastic female. How the heck did she do that, making such absolute perfect sense; it was almost terrifying.

"Just get it over with."

_'Okay, for real this time!'_ Abby faced the larger male's backside once more then placed her hands on his shoulders, ignoring the momentary tension she felt him go through at first.

Repetitively and thoroughly, her paws rubbed gently yet firmly into Vincent's body as they gradually progressed downward, soothing the underlying blood vessels and enabling the oxygen to flow more readily. Vincent, against his better (or sort of better) nature, instinctively moaned as his tired bones ached and cracked; he found it oddly liberating, as if all his troubles were being rubbed out of him. His fierce grip on the tree lessened as he allowed his body to experience this expertly done example of soothing physical therapy.

He didn't even notice when Abby removed the needles effectively and quickly, one by one. By the time he finally came to, his whole hindquarters no longer resembled a pincushion; the paw he put on his rear to make sure put all his doubts about that suspicion to rest. When he turned around, Abby stood at attention, paws clasped in front of her, smile on her face. She seemed to be waiting for something.

"What?" Vincent mumbled out in genuine confusion.

The addressed cocked her head in her characteristically adorable way. "You're welcome."

Vincent crinkled his forehead at the unforeseen statement. "I didn't say 'thank you,'" he returned in annoyed perplexity. A dainty claw waved in his face in response, much to his further irritation.

"You didn't have to," the female reassured him in a frank tone. She made it sound like the simplest thing in the world. Her seemingly unfounded confidence stole all words from Vincent's mind and left the male in a speechless stupor.

Her paws clapped in front of his muzzle before he could completely organize his thoughts. His head recoiled a bit at the sudden, sharp sound as his eyes refocused on Abby.

"C'mon, sleepyhead! We've still got daylight to burn!" And with those words, Abby hopped back to the beat of her own drum and gaited down nonchalantly and happily down the remainder of the trail. Once again, Vincent hadn't the words to say to her at the moment.

A tiny pressure on the right shoulder alerted the bear to the presence of a certain bird, but Vincent didn't turn his sights. He was still too focused on Abby's retreating figure.

Well, at least until Tony smugly stated, "Don't ya just love when she goes off like that?"

_That _got Vince's attention. He only stared at Tony for two seconds before he narrowed his golden irises and scoffed. "Ah shut up, blue jay."

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to the unlikely trio, though, they were being spied on...<p>

_'I've got you now.'_

Yes, Dwayne La Fontant was back on his feet (no thanks to a certain Rottweiler and a bunch of thieving forest critters), out of prison, and back in action!

After "bailing" himself out via use of a tiny, plastic spoon, only a plastic cup of chocolate Jell-O pudding for nourishment, the once grand exterminator kept the lenses of his oversized binoculars trained on the two ursines and avian trekking through the forest. Ah yes, he had them—hook, line and sinker! When he snags them, his return to the top of pest extermination will be instantaneous! The big cheeses will _have _to give him back his title.

_'Any minute now those animals will trip the switch and—wham!—I'll have 'em'!'_ Dwayne cheered in extreme anticipation.

What the trio of critters had no idea of was that just ahead was an intricate set of hidden ropes, complete with stun gas and tranquilizer guns poised in various knotholes and branches. Constructed by the Verminator himself, the ropes, "expertly" disguised in the high canopy of the trees, were intended to activate in accordance with the signal of an electronic motion sensor hidden in the side bushes.

When those vermin trip the sensor, the ropes will close in on them and entangle them all, thus rendering escape virtually impossible. From that point on, the guns will go off, firing over a round of gas and shot which, put together, will knock them out faster than a sucker punch to the crotch.

Okay, so maybe the bird will kick the bucket from the overdose of sedative, but oh well.

_'Nothing personal, pigeon, but nothing escapes,'_ Dwayne paused to readjust his glasses for dramatic effect. _'The Verminator.'_

* * *

><p>A familiar (and in Vincent's opinion, unwanted) face awaited the group at the sunlit opening. "Well, heh, heh, heh, tan mah fur! Ya'll made it!"<p>

"Naturally!" Abby exclaimed, rubbing a fist against her chest.

Vincent rolled his eyes at his female counterpart's cheery bravado. "So, is that it? We can go now?"

Jim huffed patronizingly before skittering over to a nearby tree and scaling it to reach a branch. Its height allowed him to look Vincent in the eye; that way, telling this overconfident "city-slicker" off would be a piece of cake.

"Now I let me tell ya sumthin', sonny!"

Vincent groaned and facepalmed. _'Oh no, here it comes.'_

* * *

><p><em>'What are you vermin up to?'<em> His targets had stopped moving for some reason. What that reason was, Dwayne couldn't quite say, at least not from this far a distance. Regardless, he had confidence in his plan's indubitable success. Well, _over_confidence would probably be a better word.

Even so, he knew for a fact that his calculations were as accurate as possible, the positioning of his tools exactly to his liking. Now he just needed the patience to await the capture of his targets.

If only he knew how much patience he was going to need in the days to come. **(3)**

* * *

><p><em>'Thank lord that's over,'<em> thought the male bear in immense relief. He'd honestly expected the rat's speech about humility and respect for one's elders to last much longer than he'd expected. It had only lasted at least three minutes.

What Vincent _couldn't_ understand was the old geezer's reason for sticking around him, Abby, and Tony. They had already passed his stupid test. What else could he possibly expect from them?

"I'll tell you why: video games! I nevah could get behind those confangled things. If you youngsters want some real action, then check outta book. Least it won't make ya'll's heads explode!"

Tony nodded in close-eyed agreement; then again, he was probably doing it more out of mutual respect than mutual opinion.

Abby, on the other hand, like Vincent, didn't bother listening to the elder rat's complaint-filled speech. In fact, she didn't even seem to register him speaking at all. She was too busy in the front of the group, humming a pop song to herself, not even watching where she was going...which is why she never noticed the faint red linear light her feet inadvertently tripped.

* * *

><p>At the exact same moment, the tracker in the overweight exterminator's meaty hands reacted, vibrating and ringing incessantly like a tech bloodhound having found its prey at last. Dwayne couldn't have been more pleased.<p>

_'Right on schedule...and now...,'_ he thought as he began his perilous (four foot drop) trek to the ground. He had to spend the first few seconds convincing himself that he was still very much alive after landing on sweet, sweet ground. Climbing had never been his strong point.

He wasted no time afterwards in dashing to the spot of the signal's source. Heavy leather boots squelched as they stomped the grass in their path as their owner proudly and confidently strode to the location of his activated traps to find...

"What the—"

Nothing—that was all he found aside from the usual trees and dirt.

In other words, his traps screwed up—big time.

Dwayne scratched his forehead in total confusion as he turned to look at the spots in the medium length grass where his ropes still lay_. 'Hmm, the calculations and measurements were all correct, right down to the last thousandth. The equipment was placed under ideal conditions. So I can't say for sure where things went wrong.'_

Dwayne stroked his chin again and again and again. One look to the ropes, one look to the trees—he shrugged his shoulders to no one in particular.

_'This technical anomaly calls for closer examination.' _He stepped onto the trail then over to some bushes and, using his hands, parted them to view a tiny, metallic grey, cubic device, its signature red light blinking just like the one on the tracker. Dwayne leaned down and hummed to himself for a second before waving a hand in front of the red light. Its line of light was gone but it was still bright; ergo, it had been activated (as planned) yet failed to perform its function (not as planned).

Dwayne picked the uncooperative, miniature box up and glanced at it for a second before shrugging his shoulders once again.

A man of his expertise never accepted failure, but learned from his mistakes. Dwayne wasn't disappointed in the slightest, just highly curious. "Probably need to recheck the wiring in this—"

About thirty ropes suddenly sprang up from the sides and entangled the unprepared La Fontant like strings in a fouled up attempt at Cat's Cradle. Dwayne barely even had enough time to scream before the incriminating ropes shot him up in the air, only for his ascent to be followed by an ominous multitude of clicks.

Dwayne gulped a lump down his throat the moment the device he'd dropped beeped the signal to fire.

"Oh Mommy..."

* * *

><p><strong>(1) I honestly hope Vincent's swears don't offend anyone of a religious persuasion. They're just part of my tries at characterization.<strong>

**(2) Jessie is one of my favorite characters from Toy Story! Why? Because she's sweet and sassy and yodels—that's why!**

**(3) Wow...I'm turning Dwayne into Wile E. Coyote, aren't I? XD**


	7. Around the Fire

**I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The lyrics to "Beautiful" were obtained from .com and belong to Triangle Sun and their respective company. There are two other songs in this chapter but they'll be referenced. Likewise, they belong to their respective owners as well.**

**All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and a very uncooperative sense of imagination.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

"And it was uh big un', too!"

"Whoa...how big?"

"As big as _you_, little missy—that's how!"

Tony chuckled in good humor as he observed Jim exuberantly storytelling his childhood adventures to Abby. Those two were so alike the blue jay was surprised at himself for not drawing comparisons between the bearess and rat sooner. If they'd been of the same species, the two goofballs could have almost been relatives.

All around the animals, nighttime croaked and chirped as fireflies danced in the air above the fire, the zenith of the heat becoming a congregation for a plethora of the shiny critters.

Abby was lying on her stomach, feet in the air, her chin propped up in her hands as her ears ate up the country rat's stories like how a little kid gobbles up a piece of candy. The tales of Jim's experiences of growing up in the wilderness fascinated the bearess to no end, each conclusion leaving her ever curious mind with questions upon questions: why did his family always spend their nights in the trees? How did he manage with so many siblings and relatives to take care of? Why did he come with her, Vincent, and Tony on this wayward journey instead of remaining in the comfort and safety of his own kin?

Her last question...received the saddest answer yet.

For once, Jim lost his characteristic smile. His lips waned into a subtle frown as the rat braced himself to answer. "Cuz...I ain't long for this world."

_'Oh boy, not this again...'_ Tony felt he had to put his foot (or talon) into this conversation. "Jim, you're middle-aged."

The addressed shot a sharp, withering, no-nonsense stare at his friend—not quite a glare, but still potent enough to get the point across.

"For a rat, that's just as well as being dirt-old. Remember, this world ain't none too kind on my kind. Heck, it's hardly frien'ly for any otha' types of critters, including bears an' birds." The last part made Tony bite his tongue in embarrassment. Even as an expert orator, Tony could never bring himself to argue against Slim Jim's brand of logic.

Fortunately, the embarrassment only lasted shortly thanks to Jim placing a comforting hand upon the avian's thin shoulder, his loveable grin back and bright as ever. A reciprocated smile of gratitude flew in from Tony's end.

Abby could only gaze upon the scene of friendship with a warm beam. _'How come __**I**__ can never keep friends like that?'_

Speaking of friends...someone was missing. Abby didn't take long in figuring out the missing member to her ring of companions. Said member could be seen sitting in the dark, pointedly avoiding the others while doing something the bearess couldn't discern from her current distance. She looked back to Tony and Jim, both of whom were occupied in a conversation about something called "Demacrix" and something else called "Econamay."

_'Probably something from Pokémon...I think...,'_ the bearess mused before lifting herself to her feet and discreetly departing from the scene to check up on a certain "grumpy-pants."

Vincent heard her before he saw her. The moment she was three feet away, he muttered in a bored growl, "Whadda ya want, kid? I'm busy."

Abby merely looked on at Vincent's "activity" in confusion. As far as she could tell, the larger male was tossing rocks across the great, neighboring lake, the sounds of splashes sloshing through the nighttime air before punctuating with a watery plop. "That doesn't look very busy to me. It actually looks pretty fun."

"It's more for stress than anything else." Vincent suddenly paused to register what he'd just been said.

Abby, too, appeared to be deeply surprised at her guide's words, even though a trace of excitement flashed in her verdant pupils.

Why _did_ he just tell her that? Why did he even respond period? For one reason or another, neither bear could chalk up an answer.

Thoughts made them introspective and quiet for a few moments before Vincent suddenly shook his head and barked, "'Sides, you looked like you were havin' plenty of 'fun' back there with those old geezers."

The cinnamon bearess tilted her head in childish confusion before she shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, but it didn't feel right having fun when you were all the way over here by yourself." Abby pointed a paw back to the fire. "Don't you wanna warm up at least?"

A smirk flitted over Vincent's muzzle before he looked back at Abby with a critical yet wondering gaze. He decided against commenting on how her statement just sounded. "Don't ya have somethin' better to do?"

Words failed a pouting Abby as she planted her haunches on the grassy bank and crossed her arms like a teenager, eyes downcast and staring at the moonlit waters shimmering before her and her companion. "Um...not in particular, I think."

The other black bear fixed another questioning stare on Abby, more amused than annoyed. "You think." _'Now __**there's**__ a scary thought.'_

Abby shrugged her shoulders again. "I only came because cuz I didn't want you feeling like you're alone. I figured that Jim and Tony would be alright by themselves; I mean, they've known each other for a long time anyway. But I don't like letting the friends I manage to keep think I've forgotten all about them."

She curled her legs up to her chest and wrapped them up with her arms like a security blanket. Her emerald eyes subtly peeked out of their corners to peek at Vincent's massive, silent form, as if attempting to detect some tattletale sign of her admittance melting down her male counterpart's icy defenses.

_'__**Manage**__ to keep...?'_ Vincent thought in confusion.

What did she mean by _that_? With that bubbly personality, garrulous tendencies, and insistence on being clingingly caring and concerning for the well-being of others, Abby should have at least had a bunch of friends waiting for her at the end of this kooky journey, Vincent figured. Aside from being a nuisance, what could be there about this woman that would override her bright, friendly character and drive others away from her?

Pretty certain he'd regret his next course of action at some point in the future, Vincent dared to glance at Abby, whose focus now lay the moon far above, a faint smile on her face. The darker-furred bear couldn't help but wonder at how she could occupy herself with staring at something so distant and out of reach and, therefore (in his opinion, at least), so pointless. The moon was too much like wishes: unreachable and only taunting you when you try to reach and reach with all the might you can muster.

In the end, dreams break and all wishing leaves you is a life littered with broken promises and tears—lots and lots of tears.

He shook his head of this profound observation. He swore to himself he'd never let his mind ponder on such matters ever again. Never, never again...

So how was one bearess, absent-minded and all, capable of inciting such feeling in him with only silence where her words had failed?

No, her words failed to pierce him...but they succeeded in another way...succeeded into reeling him into the mystery, the enigma that was Abby.

_'A woman like her shouldn't be able to affect you like this, you old idiot!' _Vincent softly growled to himself and rubbed his paws over his eyes, frustrated with himself more than ever before.

His behavior did not go unnoticed. Abby's eyebrows knitted in concern as she witnessed the external signs of Vincent's soul-struggle.

"You okay, Vince?" she asked in a soft tone of voice, her eyes expressing her deep concern. Vincent never replied; he simply remained silent, unsure what to do with himself, much less figure out what had been wrong with his mind lately.

A metaphorical light-bulb suddenly went off above Abby's head in the form of a firefly that gone astray from its brethren and lit up just above her head. Smiling to her herself, she quickly fished into her belt, thankful she hadn't removed it yet, and pulled out her I-Pod. Expertly maneuvering through the menus, she quickly found the song of her choice. Then with the stealth of a raccoon, she managed to slip the earbuds (after cleaning them, of course) around Vincent's thick neck and into his ears. The larger male didn't even react until he noticed the presence of something lodged in his ear canals.

He barely managed to say, "What the hell are you—," before Abby planted a claw on the "play" button.

Random words about being murdered, eaten by birds, and getting stuffed into a potato suddenly entered Vincent's ears. He twisted his face as if he'd just seen something extremely disturbing and questionable. **(1)**

A tomato would have been put to shame by the blush on Abby's muzzle! "Whoops! Wrong song! Stupid shuffle!"

Next song to plague Vincent's ears detailed a computer virus that must be dropped down some twenty-something foot hole in the ground before it...e-mailed someone's grandma? Best he'd not receive any elaboration or interpretation on _that_ part of the lyrics. **(2)**

"Darn it, that's not it either!"

Fed up with Abby and her melodious mishaps, Vincent almost managed to rip the auditory buds out of his ears, about ready to order the lady bear to scram...before the essence of the next music (also accidently shuffled by the device) stopped him in mid-pull.

From the first tech-synthesized beat, an angelically soft tip-tap of chimes and synthetic heartbeats halted his breath and unraveled all thoughts of frustration...until only one word remained twirling and pirouetting in his mind...

_'God...'_

_The stars are looking down on you and me_

_Sweet breath of the wind—your smile_

_All your worries are behind; you don't need them anymore_

_We will enjoy the night and life_

_So beautiful, to be here's so beautiful_

_By the summer night and music of the sea_

_So beautiful, to be here's so beautiful_

_When your friends are around the taste of life is real_

Somewhere, amongst the smooth beats and enchanting voice, Vincent's head began bobbing up and down as if in it were the planet Saturn in an appropriately sized bathtub. **(3) **Long before the song's conclusion, the male's left paw was tapping on the right knee, a genuine smile taking form on Vincent's face for the first time in years—no malice, no rage, nothing of a vindictive nature. Just real, unadulterated tranquility...

_Time is running fast_

_Can we bring it back?_

_Please tell me if it's a dream or not_

_The music of this moment will always live inside_

_Of my heart and soul_

_So beautiful, to be here's so beautiful_

_By the summer night and music of the sea_

_So beautiful, to be here's so beautiful_

_When your friends are around the taste of life is real_

And even as the song closed into silence, its captivated listener still smiled—and laughed a bit, too—the rhythm and melody continuing to play in his memory. With a sense of ease he swore he hadn't felt in years, Vincent removed the earbuds and chuckled to himself, wondering in befuddled awe...

_'That was actually pretty good.'_ He had to admit: that Abby possessed a fine ear for music. Speaking of which...

"So what did you think?"

A voice hardly unlike that of a dove gently nudged Vincent out of his reverie and brought his attention to the sow beside him. He'd completely forgotten her presence. "Hmm...?"

"I said what do you think—you know, about the song?"

Vincent furrowed his thick eyebrows, his forehead wrinkling before his shoulders shrugged in a dismissive manner. "It's decent, I guess."

"You guess...?" she asked teasingly, craning her head towards him.

The male bear rolled his eyes; he could already feel the calm going out the back door. "You were expectin' me to go all teenybopper like you and gush at how pretty it was?"

Nothing popped out of Abby in the aftermath-seconds of that comment. The bearess merely blinked twice before she shot her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, I admit. That's not exactly how I expected you to act about it...but I _still_ say you liked it. You were even bobbing your head; I know so cuz I saw you doing it!"

Vincent instantly found himself at a loss, inwardly embarrassed and cursing at the spell of absent self-control that song momentarily brought upon him. He wanted to blame Abby for that incident...a tiny part of him, somewhere deep down told him not to.

Why?

He had the freedom to blame her—just like how he had the freedom to blame RJ for ruining his winter supply of food, just like how he had that fat human to blame for turning him into an oversized poodle...but what about the forest animals RJ befriended? Did _they_ deserve to be blamed?

_'Of—Why couldn't—They were in league with...DAMN IT, WHY CAN'T I SAY IT?!'_

For the first time in years, Vincent's anger didn't have the slightest idea where to go. The bear, for reasons unknown, couldn't bring himself to hate RJ's motley group of companions.

Actually, now that Vincent thought about the turtle, the squirrel, the family of porcupines, the skunk, and the two opossums more in consideration, all his mind could label them as were..."unfortunate saps."

The meaning of that phrase managed to incite a slight cringe in Vincent. Now that he was hearing them in his head, the near silence of night serving as the perfect backdrop for his thinking, the black bear had to admit: calling those guys and gals that _did_ sound a tad harsh.

Out of nowhere, Vincent threw his arms in the air in pure exasperation, an action that caught Abby utterly by surprise. _'Is he alright?'_

In a word: no.

If the bearess had owned the ability to read minds and used it on Vincent's, she would have discovered an internal struggle between an old idea Vincent was trying to keep faith in and a new mindset that somehow managed to infiltrate his mind.

Vincent wasn't quite sure of the reason behind this problem himself. _'Why the hell do I even care about those squirts? It's their own stupid fault that they decided to stick by and protect RJ! They could've at least thrown him to me and saved themselves the trouble! That's what __**I**__ woulda' done!'_

But they didn't. Again: why?

Vincent griped to himself, not all dissimilar to how Dr. Seuss's Grinch puzzled over why the Whos down in Whoville never really needed their presents to celebrate Christmas. There was nothing particularly special about RJ. Heck, he was only just skin and bones, all wrapped in a bundle of fur. Oh sure, he had brains and a knack for stealth, but every raccoon possessed _those_ qualities—not to mention he had 'treachery' written all over him, to boot. Vincent had seen his handiwork firsthand plenty of times, after all.

Yet those animals saved him anyway. All of Vincent's thoughts wondered over how stupid those foragers could possibly get, accepting that leech even after he left them all to fry. Were they _that_ willing to leave themselves open and vulnerable to the risk of him hurting or even betraying them again?

And even if RJ _did_ save them out of the goodness of his heart, what if he messed up? What if he landed them into an even bigger jam by accident? What then...? Would they reject him for that mistake...or keep on being blind and still accept him?

That question should have been a cinch to answer. It should have taken Vincent only a second to answer.

Such wasn't the case.

Why?

All of a sudden, a sliver of a voice—a hauntingly familiar voice from eons ago— whispered in his heart, _'You know very well why. Don't you remember when you had what they have?'_

_'No...No, not this again...'_

Anger and frustration returned to Vincent in a rushing flood, relentless in their attempt to smother him until all intelligent thought no longer remained discernible. The black bear, shaking his head in denial and beginning to breathe heavily (in spite of his best efforts to contain his emotions), wanted to feel rage, yes...he wanted to release it...but not like this.

Vincent felt himself thrust back into reality when something warm and solid suddenly strung itself around him by the arms, pinioning him yet delivering a delicious heat through his body that expelled the icy grip of his inner darkness. His eyes widened at the sight of a pouting Abby, her chest mashed up against his beefy arm. Since her eyes were closed shut, she was unaware of the look of incredulous shock currently being aimed down at her through a certain pair of golden eyes. The bearess's right cheek lay against Vincent's left shoulder, the softness of her touch somehow driving away the rage in Vincent's mind and replacing it with a strange, unfamiliar sense of calm...a calm with which the male had no idea what to do.

And that's how the two bears stayed for the next minute or two: one too shocked and confused to speak, the other too concerned and focused to explain.

In a sort of trance state of mind, Vincent somehow looped his other arm—the free one— around the affectionate female, his expression still numb and speechless, and rotated the arm Abby was squeezing, allowing himself to use the other arm in order to somewhat return the embrace...though he couldn't quite explain his reason for doing so...

Abby, her muzzle bright pink with blush, eventually let go and scooted away from him...

And the hug was over...just like that...

The sow tucked a nonexistent bang behind her ear, her eyes indecisive in whether or not to face the man before her. She gripped her hands like a nervous schoolgirl. "S-Sorry...It just...seemed like the right thing to do."

Vincent suddenly regained his composure (or at least what he considered to be composure) and stuck a claw at her like an index finger...except his scalding words halted in his throat.

Abby merely raised her head expectantly, already used to the bear's surly comments.

Vincent's glare dropped into a thoughtful look...only to regain itself in the form a confident (though noticeably restrained and mellow) scowl. "Next time, ask for somebody's permission _before_ you start grabbin' them like that. Color yourself shocked, little lady, but not everyone is as unnaturally affectionate as you."

Abby found herself giggling a bit, despite her futile efforts to stifle it behind her paw. "Yeah...I sort of figured as much. Sorry about that..."

The larger male, arms crossed, simply scoffed jokingly and turned his face to the lake, an actual smile on his muzzle, subtle as it was, much to Abby's heightened optimism. To the male's satisfaction, the girl bear commented no further and had ceased from giving away future hugs for now. Instead, Abby also shifted her sights onto the lake, the eyes of both her and Vincent distant...yet their minds always managing to end up on each other.

Neither of them knew it, but those moments between them ignited something strong...small (for now at least) but still strong.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I'll be. Looks like Vincent's got a soft spot after all! Expect a few surprises next chapter because I intend to implement a bit more characterization and to even add some plot points before the story <strong>**_really_**** kicks in.**

**(1) The first song was "You Monster" from the video game, Portal. Yeah...it's extremely weird when taken out of the context of the game.**

**(2) The second song was "Virus Alert" by Weird Al Yankovic—the proof's in the name. XD**


	8. Forget It

**I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis ****_didn't_**** think up for Over the Hedge.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

The sun, edging off the dark outlines of the pine and oak trees and following night's imminent departure, met a hazy atmosphere of tired silence, the quietude the result of the oddball group of animals just emerging from their slumber and dreams. Tonight had been an easy sleep, all conditions (and associated emotions) considered and the dawning light seemed to promise smooth sailing for today, the warm air flowing in breezes, rustling the dewy grasses while birds of various plumes and hues sung and tweet melodious tunes.

In fact, Tony, in a rare burst of Abby-like optimism (not to mention being a bird himself), chirped a merry tune, unable to contain this odd sense of joy inside him. He couldn't quite pinpoint from where this sense came from...and quite frankly he couldn't have cared less! He felt so giddy, so unreasonably ecstatic...

Hopping to and fro across the green, green grass and amongst the flowers in a display of joy, the Azure descendent rang out from his vocal cords, his baritone voice ringing smoothly off the tree trunks, "Oh...Hot diggedy dog! Hot diggedy cat! He got's ta eat this. Well he's gotta eat this! I've gotta eat this. Well he's gotta eat that!" **(1)**

"I'm sure those ain't quite the right words ta...well, whatever the hell the song you're singing is, pigeon," a familiar snarky voice an octave lower than Tony's commented from somewhere in the background.

Tony rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, too caught up in his euphoria to feel bothered by Vincent's sass today. The blue jay craned his head and caught the amused smirk of the bear, whose back was leaning back against a standing tree trunk, arms crossed so nonchalantly the manner itself could be almost infuriating.

"Oh, so now you're a lyrics writer now?"

Vincent merely shrugged his shoulders and pouted in a thoughtful manner. "No...but I'm sure I'd make a better comedian."

"Wow, a playful taunt in place of an insult—be still mah beatin' heart," Tony put a wing to his chest in exaggeration, "I _must_ be dreaming."

To these words, the lumbering ursine scoffed, his characteristic attitude returning bit by little bit, "Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I'm in a good mood this morning, which is rare for me, so enjoy it while it's still lastin'."

Tony didn't respond for a while; instead he trained his teal eyes on Vincent out of his own peripherals. The bear was acting rather chipper today...a little _too_ chipper to be considered normal, actually. The azure avian raised a wing to his non-existent chin then hummed to his self.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that, uh..._talk_ you had with Abby last night...would it?"

For the space of a nanosecond...Vincent lost all traces of his bravado. But it was long enough for Tony to catch an iota of weakness—fear, pain, desperation, the bird couldn't discern for sure—in the bear's golden eyes...only for years-old defenses to come back online in the form of not only a scowl but also a gruffly stated, "Would that have anythin' to do with _your_ business?"

No reply came; Tony merely stood in his current location, sapphire eyes neither accusatory nor teasing. He only tilted his tiny head sideways in quietly wonderment and simply stated, "No...I'm just realizing Abby's finally having an effect on you."

_'Effect on me...?'_ Vincent was certain he hadn't heard right. "So what...?"

To the bear's growing frustration, the avian shrugged his shoulders. Only answer: "So...what...?"

Resisting the urge to bite someone's head never proved more difficult for Vincent. "What difference does _that_ make?"

"It never had to...but it did anyway." Tony craned his head to gain a better observation of his towering associate. "Thanks to that girl, something inside you's shifted."

Vincent pretended to sneer and joke the comment off. "What? Like an internal organ...?"

"Your eyes...," the Aristo avian commented mistily as he pointed a feather at Vincent. "There's a different light in them than before."

Then slowly, bit by bit, a bemused smile slipped over Tony's beak. Wider and wider it became until it looked almost zany. The bird shook his head the same way a knowing father would to a young son denying his own first crush.

"Did about the same thing to Jim and me, too—took a little longer in your case, of course...She don't look like much—and believe me, I should know—but I swear to God that girl is something special." No more words passed in the air as Tony peeled his gaze away from Vincent and towards the enamoring sunrise, his cerulean feathers tinted orange by the emblazoning light.

He never bothered to notice Vincent walking away, the bear's frowning muzzle the only hint to his struggling thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>SPLISH! SPLASH! SPLISH! SPLASH!<strong>

Again and again and again—the results never changed. And that's what Vincent continuously puzzled over.

_'I look the same as ever.'_ Seriously, same fur, same imposing height, same massive beer-gut, same muscles, same glower, some razor-sharp teeth...Okay, granted, he'd discovered a few gray hairs on the sides of his head...much to his sudden discomfiture...

Age: he was surprised at himself for never thinking about it before. He certainly wasn't getting younger, after all. Maybe he'd gotten so used to being a loner after the incident that the future had lost all meaning to him. All he had cared about for the last eight years was survival...well, that and...and...

Wait.

What else...?

Vincent paused in his face-washing and gazed at nothing but the distant wall of trees for a while.

In all honesty, the thought of the emptiness of his familiar lifestyle, for the first time in years, unnerved him. He was a loner. As such, he had had very little contact over the years, much less companions he could call friends.

To his cringing pride, Vincent suddenly realized that RJ used to be the closest the bear ever came to actually having a friend, let alone having someone to _call_ a friend. Even though their relationship had been strictly mutual and based on death threats from the bear's end, the raccoon still proved to be a constant presence in the otherwise solitary ursine's life. Up until the whole fiasco with the winter supply, one could have gone so far as to even call the two animals buddies.

In a way, that had been true. As long as RJ had stuck to his part of the deal, Vincent tolerated him. In fact, the black bear could recall a few rare moments of when his behavior towards the raccoon was civil—tense and wary...but still civil.

_'Yeah...'till that fool of a raccoon tried ta make off with my food!'_ That's right. He did. Vincent had every right to be mad at RJ for that offense! He had every right to scare that shrimp out of his fur! He had every right to—to...

_'C'mon, Vincent, just say it!'_ One simple word: kill. Maim, murder, massacre. Any of those words would do. All he had to was say it— shout it—scream it! Let the whole damn world know what that raccoon had coming to him!

His throat refused.

The word, that oh-so-simple word, kept dying on his tongue. Like a beached jellyfish trapped on a sizzling beach...

**SPLISH! SPLASH! SPLISH! SPLASH!**

Again and again and again...only this time, Vincent knew the truth; he just didn't want to face it—not now. But even someone of his pigheadedness couldn't deny it, which was why he buried his face into his paws, groaning in complete and utter disbelief.

He _had_ changed...for better or for worse.

And he knew just who to blame (or thank?) for this development.

* * *

><p>Sharp, piercing whistles rained down in the forest as Slim Jim and Abby trotted down the path back to the campsite where they and their friends spent the previous night, Abby's arms chock-full of the hard-earned fruit of their morning search. Needless to say, today was off to a good start, after all.<p>

"Whoooo doggy! Mornin' ya'll! This is the Abigail Express, all shipped, stocked, an' ready ta serve! Abby, sugah, show these here folks what we got!"

"You got it!" So Abby released her grip and allowed the bag of various fruits, nuts, and bugs to lie on the wooden top of the ancient yet surprisingly sturdy picnic table.

Tony fluttered up to and landed upon said top to goggle at the plethora of plenty standing (or, better yet, sagging) right before his widened eyes. Even the surly Vincent, who just returned from the lake not too far away, impressed by the sheer haul of food, couldn't help but gawk at the results the wizened old rat and overly saccharine bearess managed to attain in one morning.

Mind still in shock, Tony numbly asked, ever taking his eyes off the food, "Where exac'ly did ya'll _get_ this stuff?"

Abby, ever the eager to explain something, pointed a paw down the way from whence she and Slim Jim emerged. "From over there—there's a bunch of edible berries just over that way. In fact, we passed them on the way over here yesterday." She set her hands akimbo then fixed a perplexed stare on Tony and Vincent. "You didn't notice?"

The slow, collective "uh" from both males answered that question quite easily. Abby waved off their confusion. _'Oh well, boys will be boys.'_

Her rodent friend suddenly chortled, "Aw, shucks, you two boys stop bein' so gosh dang bashful now! This here grub's ain't gonna last all day, y'know!"

"Me—the illustrious Antonio Aristo Azure—bashful?" Tony rolled his eyes and snorted in boisterous confidence as he swung a wing downward in dismissive denial. "Oh, perish the thought!"

Vincent merely shook his head at the avian's show; the big lug just wanted to eat already, and, if this bird would rather be flapping his gums than his beak, than, hey, his loss then. In fact, Vincent already began reaching out for one of the apples in the bag—only to receive a painful whap on the wrist from Abby.

"YEOW!"

The larger bear instantly retracted his paw, shaking it in order to numb out the pain. He threw a dirty glower Abby's way...only to discover her sending him one _back_ in full force! The returning look actually managed to make Vincent lose the edge of his anger, even though his paw still stung from the slap.

He had no idea the lady—or heck _any lady_ for that matter—could ever match him glare for glare.

_'First the massage, then the talk from last night...and now this—is this kid trying to meet a quota for how many times she can catch me off guard?'_ He wouldn't put that possibility past Abby, especially if her music selection, or at least what he'd been able to hear of it the night before, was any accurate indication.

Abby never lost her glare as she motherly rebuked, "Oh no, Mister Grubby Fingers! You forgot something!"

_'Forgot what?'_ Vincent glanced at Tony, who caught his stare and shrugged in response, just as perplexed to the significance of the bearess's words. Slim Jim, on the other hand, appeared to understand Abby's words of admonish perfectly well for he was nodding in affirmation, his frown strongly matching that of the female ursine.

A few more seconds of bafflement passed before Abby sighed to herself in childlike exasperation and ceased her attempts of letting the two males figure out the "mystery" themselves. "We gotta say our graces first."

The reactions to this simple explanation varied.

Slim Jim, looking serious for once, nodded again, his eyes closed in solemn anticipation.

Tony silently gasped in realization, internally reprimanding himself for forgetting something so morally essential.

Vincent looked about ready to scream—and maybe claw his own eyes out in the meantime, too. "Graces...," he slowly uttered, shivering as if the word itself were a swear-word, "Woman, _please_ tell me you're jokin'."

Once again, Abby pulled off the same glare from before, huffing a bit for added measure. Rather than be dumbstruck this time, Vincent chose to return the look back; he just wanted some stupid food for crying out loud! Was that too much to ask for?

Then to his imminent confusion, Abby dropped her look, replacing it with a firm stare of...pity?

With great boldness, she stepped up to Vincent, craning her neck up while doing so in order to look the taller male in the eyes, the greenery of her pupils full of questioning sadness. All males, Vincent included, were either too stunned or, in Jim's case, too impressed for words to comment or ponder on the girl's sudden shift in attitude.

Abby tilted her head, unbelieving of the lack of gratitude in her friend. "You know...life is a pretty easy thing to lose, Vincent. You'll have it one day and barely think about it at all; it's just that easy to take for granted; heck...I'm guilty of that myself...but what about tomorrow?"

Her voice dropped along with her line of sight but Tony, Jim, and Vincent still heard her just as well, especially the latter; the bearess placed a paw over her heart with something akin to regret and nostalgia. "What would you do with the time you have now if you never know if tomorrow may even come for you?"

Was she asking Vincent that...or was she also asking herself that? No one could say for sure.

All Vincent knew for certain was the fact that this young woman, so supposedly inexperienced with the ways of the forest, managed to shoot down his temper-induced argument with words that should have come out of the mouth of someone a thousand years older than all of them, even Jim.

Out of the blue, the abnormally quiet bearess regained some semblance of her usual self by plastering a half-hearted grin and clapping her paws together in hollow firmness. "Um...on second thought—let's just forget the graces for today. 'Kay?"

Vincent numbly nodded in response, the only action he could do, unable to shake off the light of...recollection in Abby's usually cheerful eyes.

_'And I got a strong feeling the rat and the bird saw it, too.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Abby, are you alright?<strong>

**Abby: (gently shrugs my hand off her shoulder): Yeah...I'll be okay. (Walks off)**

**Me (looking unsure): Um, right...anyway, I hope this chapter was decent for everyone. Don't forget to review!**

**1. Those lyrics came from the Catdog song "Cat Diggety Dog." Both the song and the show it originates from belong to Nickelodeon.**


	9. Like to See You Bleed

**I blame the fact that I had Sly and the Family Stone on the brain when I changed the title. I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis ****_didn't_**** think up for Over the Hedge.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

Something happened to Abby.

No, she was fine _physically_. No injuries...no cuts...no bruises—nothing serious for her to worry about for her body's sake.

No, the _real_ signs to whatever was plaguing bearess consisted of the manner in which she continually darted her eyes from tree to tree as the gang continued down its way. If Vincent hadn't known better, he would've thought Abby were afraid of encountering something—or some_one_. In fact, ever since breakfast, she'd been acting...off. Her smiles became more forced and there was now a nervous light in her eyes; she recurrently rubbed her arms up and down as if suffering from cold, even though the noonday light, in spite of all the overhead trees and their canopy, kept the temperature cozily warm.

Now Vincent wasn't normally one to care for someone else's well-being...but, sheesh, Abby's actions were seriously setting him on edge! He was starting to ask himself if there actually _was _a good reason for the bearess's skittish behavior.

_'Well, here's to hoping I get proven wrong for once.'_

Meanwhile, Tony and Slim Jim, from their perch atop Vincent's massive cranium, also watched Abby's actions with concern. Tony tilted his crested head, the choking worry in his teal eyes clear and prominent. "Abby, what's wrong? You're lookin' a little spooked."

"No!"

All three men jumped at the panicky tone of the young woman's voice. Abby caught their reactions, though, and quickly attempted her best to hide behind faux optimism. "I mean...no. It's nothing." Abby released a deep breath. "Just a bad case of nerves—it'll pass soon enough."

Tony didn't believe that lie for a second; neither did Vincent nor Jim.

A shiny, black camera, hidden completely from view by the leaves and branches, snapped its picture of the quirky quartet, the animals never the wiser of just one of the many "eyes" watching them this instant.

* * *

><p><strong><span>At Vermination, Inc.,...<span>**

Seated in her swivel chair, Delilah chuckled to herself as she watched the video feed on her laptop. She had to admit: this group of animals had to be the oddest bunch she'd ever set her eyes on. All the same, though, they were no different than the other critters this master of pest control had tackled and captured.

Her thoughts shifting by whim, Delilah indulged herself by switching the feed to an image depicting a still of Dwayne's latest blunder. Her snorts nearly left her collapsed on the floor at the sight of her portly twin brother hanging upside-down by the haphazard ropes that suspended him a few feet off the ground, various tranquilizer needles sticking into his body. The most amusing detail, though, would have be a toss-up between the delirious expression on the man's face—lolling tongue and all—and the absurd position of his body in which all four limbs strung out in directions a _yoga expert_ would have had an easier time accomplishing.

_'Just when you think he couldn't make himself look any more of a fool than he already is.' _With that thought in mind, Delilah promptly closed the image with one tap of her finger on the keyboard. _'Oh well, at least I have something to contribute to Aunt Marge's home videos.' _

Now—to get down to business—first on today's To-Do list: patch up the loose ends from yesterday's little..."fiasco."

"Oh Ro-_bert_...," the woman called out to an unseen someone behind herself in a falsely sweet tone.

Before five seconds passed, a short, adorably squat man tumbled his way into the office, his receding and combed bright-red hair his most prominent feature. In his chubby arms lay a fat stack of papers, which he struggled to maintain in adequate order as he clumsily worked his way across the room, his black dress-shoed feet stepping in an inordinately random fashion as if in a weird, unconventional birth-child of tap-dance and square dance.

"Y-yes, Miss LaFontant...i-is there something I can help you with?" His weakly chipper and nervous smile accomplished little in assuaging the look of distempered coldness in his superior's eyes as he finally managed to land the lumbering paper stack onto the mahogany desk, panting from the effort afterward.

"What is the report on the test subjects?" Delilah tonelessly drilled, not skipping a single beat, "Have they have all been neutralized and detained?"

At both questions, Robert lost his smile as he twiddled his fingers in anxiety, his natural feebleness becoming more obvious. "W-w-well..."

"Robert...what happened?" If one were to be listening hard enough at that very moment, like Robert was, one would've caught an alarming trace of dissatisfaction beneath the voice full of deceiving calm.

And as all employers of Vermination, Inc. should know...Delilah LaFontant was _always_ at her most dangerous when dissatisfied.

After swallowing a lump at the back of his nearly nonexistent throat with an audible gulp, Robert brushed a meaty hand over his head before reluctantly continuing on. "Um...two of the subjects m-might have...escaped."

No sound came from the alpha female except that of the slow, rhythmic tapping of her fingers against the table; to her assistant, that sound might as well have come from a gun being cocked.

"Just out of simple curiosity...," she finally replied, even though the casual manner in which she spoke rattled the smaller man all the same, "which of the, uh, subjects exactly _did_ manage to get away?"

Like a man in death row, Robert knew there was no way out of this predicament—as least not for him. "Um...t-the new ones...Miss LaFontant...the raccoons to be precise..."

* * *

><p>Rustles upon rustles darted among the foliage in successive lines, hushed whispers and hissed warnings constantly accompanying each other in the chilly, autumn air. The forms of two tiny woodland creatures dashed nimbly and lithely, their movements the source of the rustling.<p>

"Did we lose 'em?"

"We will if you keep quiet, genius!"

"I was just asking a—oh, what's that?"

"What have I told you about-?!"

"No, seriously, look over there!"

Twin pairs of inquisitive eyes—one aquamarine, the other a deep hazel—peeked from out from the interior of a mulberry bush. The nearby lights of an expansive neighborhood—reds, blues, and yellows— shone so brightly, they almost blinded the two figures at first, but, even so, the view proved breathtaking.

By the time their visions adjusted to the brightness, the two shadows respectively turned to each other and nodded.

Here would have to do for now.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, back in a section of the western American forest, a piece away from where the misfit crew is...<strong>

Obscure shapes and shadows filtered through the patches of forest leaves encroaching upon the small forest clearing, the dead, brown grass and the surrounding, ancient woods the perfect setting for any plans intended for shady dealings.

A lean, snake-bodied figure reclined in an overly massive, archaic faded-red armchair, his arms crossed over a snow-white furred chest. The figure's laser hazel irises shone like chilling fog as they scanned the various able-bodied badgers, rats, and moles seated before the shadowy superior. Two fierce, larger-than-average sized badgers stood at the leader's sides, their beady eyes daring anyone to speak out against him.

"Alrighty, boys," the leader drawled in a Mugsy-style drawl as he reclined in his seat, "Here's the deal. A former...'friend' of mine,' according to my sources, is headin' down our neck of the woods tonight."

All of a sudden, a badger daintily clapped as he shot up to his feet, grinning from ear to ear and hopping up and down like a little kid, exclaiming in a dopey, British-accented voice, "Oh goody, I love surprises!"

One of the scrawny rats, after receiving the okay from the boss, used his tail to promptly swat the side of the badger's thick-skulled cranium. The larger mammal winced at the pain (which wasn't really as bad as his antics suggested), but compliantly compensated for his impromptu behavior after catching all the glares.

"OW! Oh...right…sorry boss."

The boss rolled his own eyes. "Now, as I was_ sayin'_…my sources say that they caught Vince stalkin' around some nearby town. Don't know what he's doin' back here…and, quite frankly, I couldn't care less! All I _do_ care is that he's too much of a danger to my operations. That's why I called you's guys to keep an eye on 'im."

* * *

><p><em>Run, run, run...run or die...<em>

_Only those two choices...and she knew the result would come out the same, nevertheless._

_But she had to try._

_At least try._

_Breathless...ragged...tired..._

_Muscles aching..._

_Lungs burning..._

_Eyes tearing..._

_How long? How long...How long had it been already?_

_She never looked up._

_The sunlight had long since deserted her._

_Were they still following?_

_Abby never looked back._

_She was too afraid to. _

_Not that the atmosphere did anything to help..._

_Everything—the woods, the grass, the sky—everything pulsated with a deep ominous red...the dark outlines and shadows merely added to the hauntingly surreal nightmare...The whole world appeared as if it had merged with...melted into...bled the loveliest dreams...the wildest imaginations of a serial killer..._

_And here Abby was...trapped in the middle of this malevolent paradise...no way out...no way to escape..._

_No hope..._

_Her legs couldn't endure anymore. They gave out from under her, sending the sow to the ground in a dazed blur. Oddly enough, Abby never felt contact with the ground; her exhaustion had numbed the sensations of her body to the world._

_And so she lay there, almost as still as death, her lightly heaving chest the only sign of her still being alive (for now)._

_She had landed face-first into the barren earth, her arms sprawled out in front of her as if reaching in vain for something...anything...to ward off the impending danger._

_Too late..._

_The Shadow was here...and looming over her..._

_A single tear escaped her blank eyes. The emeralds of her pupils dismally glinted like flint in the crimson lighting...almost as if clinging to a single shred of Abby's former self..._

_It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright._

_Please...let it be alright..._

_Only one last image...all her mind managed to engrain into itself...right before oblivion claimed it...was the blackened outline of a huge, hulking figure..._

_And two bright, strangely familiar golden eyes..._

* * *

><p>In the cold throngs of reality, chilled from a cause unconnected to the nighttime wind, a young bearess shivered.<p>

This night was going to be a long one.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh dear, I just won't give these four folks a break, will I?<strong>


	10. Let It Be

**I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis _didn't_ think up for Over the Hedge.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

Darkness paved the way for early morning the next day, sundae orange already kissing the cherry wine sky.

Abby _still _hadn't broken out of her depression. She was sitting on a stump, wringing her paws, casting cautious, sideways glances to the woods every now and then. Her eyelids seemed larger than usual thanks to the slight bags under her eyes; she must've not gotten enough sleep last night.

Tony could only shake his head in ongoing concern as he observed from an overhead branch, just above the bearess's head. For once in his life, nothing the boastful blue jay thought up managed to cheer Abby up. Every animal of the forest that knew of the renowned Antonio Aristo Azure and of the great feats performed by him always came to the acclaimed avian to either witness or even experience these miracles for themselves.

In reality, all these "feats" accumulated to were shams.

They merely consisted of smokes and mirrors, tricks Tony learned and imitated from watching humans for so many years.

_'I know all my focus pocus ain't real. For the longest time, though...I didn't mind. There wasn' much else I had going for me. Aside from those tricks, I owned nothing after my parents left me.'_ To this day, Tony _still _couldn't understand why they left him so suddenly...and without telling their baby boy, too.

That day shaped him in ways he couldn't begin to fathom. And now he feared Abby might be starting to head down that same path.

Vincent did not share the avian's sentiment. In fact, he had just about enough of what he perceived to be a mere act on Abby's part. The bear could not gather a single idea of what this woman had in mind, keeping everyone hung over like this, but he knew one thing for sure: Tony and Jim (wherever that rat was) could play "Pity Party" all day long if they wanted to...but Vincent was nobody's fool.

With an audible smack of his gums, Vincent threw his head to the side in clear exasperation and frustration as he stepped away from the tree he'd been leaning up against.

He grumbled in cool, uncaring disdain, "Oh for God's sake, kid, will you get over it already? All we did yesterday was go through the same forest we've been going through for the past few days! It ain't like somebody _died_. Besides, we're already near the end of this place."

Believe it or not, Vincent made a very valid point. The trees were getting less and less frequent as the group continued eastward, giving way to more open, long-grassed areas. The Great Plains were not far off anymore.

Unfortunately, no visible reaction came from Abby aside from a deep, lengthy sigh and her putting a hand over her heart; she appeared as if she never heard the male speak at all.

Vincent threw his paws into the air out of clear frustration. _'The damn least she could do is cry.'_

At least then, Vincent would know how to respond. He never did well with taking silence from others, despite the number of times he'd always complained about needing peace and quiet himself.

When he looked back in Abby's direction, though, ready to tell her he had just about enough of her sentimental foolishness and about ready to head off on his own...he cringed a bit at the sight some of the rising sunlight revealed.

This time, the bags under her dulled, emerald eyes stood as plain as day. Redness still lingered in her eyes, as well. And worst of all, there was a deep frown in place of her usual sunny grin. It was as if someone sucked all of the optimism and light right out of her.

Something about that expression dulled the edge of Vincent's anger. Granted, the original plan of using Abby and these other folks to get back to _and _at RJ still persisted in Vincent's mind...but even the surly bear couldn't deny the limits of his "companions," especially in Abby's case.

He needed still her for...well, okay maybe he couldn't quite come up with a good role for Abby, especially since the male, surprisingly enough, hadn't thought past the fact of her being his enemy's friend. In fact, Vincent was surprised at himself for having lost track of his revenge plan for a little while.

And maybe a miniscule part of him _did_ feel worried for her—sort of.

Rubbing the back of his head in a rare show of sheepishness (and ignoring Tony's scalding, paternal glower), Vincent slowly tore his look away from Abby.

"Look...uh...," an apology wasn't coming, but, even so, something in Vincent's gut demanded him to at least say something. "It's not like all this moping and feeling sorry for yourself is gonna do you or anybody else any good. I mean...I didn't get to be your guide just to watch a soap opera, right?" The ursine punctuated that rhetorical question with a nervous chuckle.

Tony slapped a wing to his face in exasperation, not impressed. _'I shoulda known better than ta expect this foo' ta know how ta comfort someone.'_

Surprisingly, though, Vincent's long-winded "pep talk" managed to lessen the sadness in Abby's eyes. Throughout the mini-speech, the bearess's face shifted to brief confusion at first, but then gradually melted into a look of understanding and then eventually, to both Vincent and Tony's relief, acceptance.

Still sniffling, Abby rubbed a paw across her nose, ridding herself of the pesky snot that had been clinging to her face, along with the tears, since earlier this morning. Vincent held back a slight tingle at how her eyes started to sparkle again the second she looked at him. She was making him feel a bit self-conscious.

Thankfully, the moment didn't last long. Before the others knew it, a small, modest smile returned to their friend's muzzle once again.

Tony smiled in return, grateful to have their Abby back. Even Vincent risked an imperceptible smirk, having found Abby's slump upsetting at the very least.

After ridding the final traces of phlegm and saltwater from her face, Abby straightened up, looking as good as new, save for the bags still under her eyes (but those would go away after a nice nap anyway).

A look of confusion suddenly crossed the female's face, momentarily worrying her two friends until she curiously asked, "Did anybody see where Jim went?"

...

Come to think of it, where _was _that rat? Neither Tony nor Vincent saw him since early this morning, mostly because they'd been busy with the aftermath of Abby's bad night. Morning had already arrived, and Tony, for a fact, knew that his long-time friend preferred being an early bird (no pun intended) over being a day-sleeper.

Abby's eyebrows suddenly crinkled with worry. "He never told you where he went?"

Tony's eye-ridges followed suit. "No, did he tell you?"

Abby shrugged. "I never even noticed he left in the first place."

Vincent groaned in frustration; he was _not _looking forward to a game of Hide-and-Seek for that undersized prune _this_ early in the morning.

_'If it's not one thing with these people, it's another.'_ On the other hand, arguing and griping wouldn't accomplish anywhere close to getting this journey back underway, so...

"Welp, might as well see where the old coot went."

* * *

><p>"Woman, you bettah lis'en to me—"<p>

"Don't you 'woman' me, fatso!"

The voices, once the trio drew closer to their source, became inexplicably louder, enough for the three animals to cover their ears lest they lose their ability to hear.

Abby shouted over the obnoxious arguing, the volume of which still threatened to drown her out, "Sounds like somebody's a little peeved about something!"

Vincent rolled his eyes, _'No shit, Nancy Drew.'_

Something caught out of the corner of her eyes caused Abby to briefly shift her head in a random direction. Her pupils widened in shock before she grabbed Vincent by the right arm with one hand and snatched Tony out of the air with the other. Vincent instantly blushed at the touch of the female's paws on his bicep.

Before the ursine could retort or protest, however, Tony shushed him with the wing not pinioned by Abby's hand, "Shh! Wait...I see something."

Maintaining her grips on her friends, Abby crouched to her knees, Vincent bending down with her, and then slowly crawled towards some bushes—in the same direction as her seemingly random head-turn from earlier. The cinnamon bearess, releasing Vincent, quickly but quietly poked a paw through the brush. Her nose reached out past the leaves as she peered into the adjacent clearing, Tony able to glance alongside.

Vincent didn't have much of a vantage point compared to them, so he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Sure, don't make room for the local curmudgeon," he muttered in sarcasm, "He'd just ruin all the fun.'"

Tony huffed to himself in realization, blatantly ignoring the bear's complaint, "Well...this certainly explains a few things."

He waved a wing to gesture Vincent to come closer. The black bear, after a look of reluctance, begrudgingly crawled over next to Abby, who scooted over to make room for him. The scene that awaited his eyes beyond the bush certainly didn't qualify as something he would have predicted.

Standing face to face in the middle of the grassy clearing, two animals were shouting insults back and forth between each other, snarling in the case of one, sneering in the case of the other.

One was a large, hefty beaver whose brown fur jutted out from the sides of his face like a giant moustache; even from a distance, one could easily make out the muscles that stood out in the aquatic mammal's deceptively pudgy form. His earthy coffee eyes, if looks could kill, would have scorched the smaller, skinner mink in front of him. Such did not prove to be the case for the mahogany-furred beauty did more than just stand her ground against the glare of the towering mammal.

"Don't pin this rap on me, Pudge! I warned you about that food, but, no, you just couldn't wait to stuff yourself silly, could ya?"

"It's called bein' an opportunist, _Carol_," the cowboy-accented beaver made dead certain to add scolding emphasis on the name. Whatever effect he'd been looking for, he must have succeeded according to the look of delight on his ruddy face and the sight of the mink's face contorting from shock, the mink herself now utterly speechless, her ebony irises dilated.

The silence only lasted for two seconds. "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT—"

Meanwhile, Vincent whistled, both amused and impressed. _'Damn, they're grilling each otha' but good!'_ But then the male tapered his eyes at the scene, noticing a detail the rest of the trio hadn't seemed to notice yet. _'Bingo!'_

Abby, noting the look of realization on the male's face, curiously piped up, "What's up?

The larger male, in response, pointed a paw to a rock that lay a distance behind the couple. "Look at that rock over there, just a little past the beaver."

Abby narrowed her eyes next, Tony doing the same along with her. Sure enough, right there on the large, black rock that stood just a few feet away from the bickering couple, sat Jim, a thoughtful expression etched across his face. His attention seemed heavily focused on the feuding mammals.

Abby suddenly whispered, "Should we do something?"

Vincent hissed back, incredulous, "Do what?"

A mere shrug constituted the bearess's response. "You know...help?"

Her grumpy, male counterpart merely gawked at her words. "Abby, married couples fight about stuff all the time; it's just a sign that they're workin' out their differences. I don't even get why that old rat is wastin' his time on them anyway to begin with. If there's one thing those two don't need, it's interference cuz I really doubt Jim is a certified marriage counselor."

Vincent continued staring out at Jim's efforts with a gaze full of skepticism. However, he never noticed the looks of shock persisting across both Tony and Abby's faces. Where the heck did all of _that _come from?

Tony coughed a bit to receive Vincent's attention. When the bear gave the blue jay his full attention, the avian calmly stated, "For someone who prefers solitude, Vincent...you sure just sounded awfully knowledgeable about this whole marriage business."

Though Abby added nothing to the bird's valid observation, her eyes pinned Vincent down with the same curiosity and wonderment.

The worse part: Vincent couldn't blame either of them. He slapped a hand to his face at his mistake. What on Earth just possessed him to blab out like that? _'Please don't suggest I try next. Please don't suggest I try next. Please don't suggest I try next.'_

"Hey, Vincent..."

The addressed cut Abby off with a sharp cry of "No, no, and hell no, I am _not—_I repeat: _not—_playin' marriage counselor just because of some namby-pamby sense of good-goody, preacher-enhanced—"

Tony awkwardly added in, "Vincent."

The black bear halted his rant to shoot an annoyed glare at the avian. "What?"

Tony pointed a feather at the clearing. Vincent allowed his eyes to follow...and almost lost his jaw afterwards. Because of his reckless increase in volume, Vincent ended up attracting the attention of the couple, as well as Jim's. Now everybody, Abby and Tony included, was staring at him blankly yet attentively like a group of musicians awaiting a signal from the conductor.

Jim, the only one still capable of speech at this point, merrily slapped his knee and chortled as if witnessing a wedding in progress, "Well, heh, heh, heh, how nice of ya ta pitch in!"

* * *

><p><strong>I love torturing the characters. <strong>


	11. Dear Vincent

**For those who are married or were once married, I deeply apologize in advance if the viewpoints placed in this chapter are erroneous. I mostly based them on my common sense and own limited knowledge. I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis **_**didn't**_** think up for Over the Hedge.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

"I swear the way this guy stares at other women's chests—"

"Oh, I get it! So you can stare at otha' guys' crotches wheneva' you want, but when I do the same wit' anotha' woman's hoo-hoos, I get the lecture!"

Vincent rubbed his eyes in pure frustration. What in God's name had Jim been thinking? _'If I survive this...that rat __**will**__ die...painfully and slowly.'_

Until then, the black bear had no other feasible option than sucking up his pride and listening to the boisterous argument—and he couldn't just leave unless he wanted Abby, Jim, and Tony to never let him live it down.

He couldn't help scoffing in the back of his mind at the typical case of marriage malaise unfolding before him; these two seemed pretty young, after all, and, even though arguments between spouses, as Vincent already said, was anything but a rarity, young couples were usually very perceptible to divorce-worthy fights, especially if they were newly-wed.

So with as much patience as he could muster, Vincent emitted a long, deep sigh before slamming his hands onto the log secured by fairly large rocks (a makeshift "desk" courtesy of Abby), shooting up straight, and whistling loud enough to break through the complaining.

The couple went stark silent at the sharp sound in seconds.

Nodding in smug approval, the ursine "therapist" sat back down on his chair (a relatively flat rock large enough for his "ginormous tushie"—Abby's and Jim's words, but mostly Abby's), took a nearby stick from the ground and began waving it between his fingers as if it were a pencil.

"Alright...let's start this one side of the story at a time, shall we?"

* * *

><p>"This will neva' work. This is not gonna work. There ain't no way this will eva' work."<p>

That sentence Tony kept chanting as he paced back and forth, head down, was starting to sound like a creepy mantra...

'_Or a workers' union's motto—can't tell which,'_ Jim mused.

Abby rolled her eyes and gestured for her avian friend to cease his actions; he was even getting_ her _nervous. "Tony, relax! Geez, it's not like Vince's going to tell them to reinvent the Oneida Community from the 1900s."

That piece of...uh, unique history managed to make Tony to pause long enough to fix the bearess with a stare that couldn't decide between knowing awe and knowing perturb.

'_On second thought, never mind. I'm not even gonna ask.'_ Tony slumped down on a nearby rock and sighed in stubborn defeat. "I just can't picture Vincent bein' a family person, much less somebody who used ta be married."

The bearess nodded at the avian's words, not forgetful of the male bear's cynical disposition. Then again, how else would someone of Vincent's stone-cold personality understand the thralls of marriage without once having been married himself?

Still...this unforeseen development raised new questions. Abby put a claw to her chin in thought. "If Vincent had been married, then how come he never mentioned anything about a wife? Do you think something bad happened to her?"

"Abby," Tony started in a slow tone of warning as he looked up at the young woman, "Do you honestly think he'll open up ta anyone about—"

Only to find her dashing out of the bushes and towards the "therapy session"—of course..."That...An' _there_ she goes."

Tony rubbed a wing against the side of his head, somehow both exasperated yet also slightly amused by the girl's deceiving lack of attention and common sense. "Jim, I tell you, man, the youth these days is just so..."

If the avian expected his old friend to share his look of elder annoyance and add his own two cents...he was sadly mistaken. Rather, Jim was jumping around, trying to catch a butterfly from the air. "C'mere, ya cute, little critter! I got ya! I got ya! _Almost_ got ya!"

Tony stared at the ridiculous scene in a blank stupor. He made a face-palm (well, more of a face-wing) and sighed. The avian raised a tired countenance to the sky.

'_Am I the only one who isn't a child in an adult's body?'_

* * *

><p>"Excuse me!"<p>

'_Oh no...'_ A certain bear cringed at the childish, singsong voice. He dared a peek out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, Abby...?"

The addressed stopped in her tracks, her hands behind her back while her feet started doing that heel-knocking gig again (when was the last time Vincent saw her do that anyway?). "Um...not that I don't think you're doing a good job or anything—because you're doing awesomely—I just wanna give off a few pointers, if that's alright by you!"

Sending off a snide comment and smirk never felt so easy for Vincent, in spite of this recently growing, nagging sense of conscience, "As a matter of fact—"

Eddy beat him to the punch...and not in the way Vincent hoped. "Hey, now that don't sound like a bad idea at all. Does it, honey?"

For once, Caroline shot a frank smile to her spouse. "Yeah, this oughta settle things."

Vincent, now the only one thrown for a loop, stared at the couple in numb disbelief. "It will?"

Abby perched her haunches onto the area of leftover rock—right next to a blanching Vincent. "Sure, I'm here to help smooth out any corners in your guys' session; my mom and older sisters gave me a few tips for such an occasion, after all."

At this assurance, Eddy perked in understanding, his beard bouncing with the jerk of his head. "Oh, so the two of ya'll are married then?"

"What...?" popped out of both bears' mouths with the same uncanny tone of blankness. Vincent and Abby shared a nice, long look...then laughed their guts out! The former continually slammed a paw onto the log in hysterics as the latter held her sides while trying her personal best not to fall out of the rock.

What indeed! Vincent and Abby—married...? Now _there_ was a joke!

The male black bear, once he regained control over his laughter, waved a hand at the beaver and the mink. "Naw, you folks got the wrong idea. She ain't mah wife."

Caroline Farrows slowly knitted her eye-ridges in gradual...disappointment? "She's...not."

Abby, in all her innocence, mistook the woman's expression for lingering confusion. The cinnamon bearess snorted playfully and waved a hand in a way that said, 'As if.'

"No, of course not, we're just—"

"Fiancés, of course...!" Jim sang out of nowhere, no longer chasing the butterfly and somehow managing to slip past Tony without the blue jay ever noticing until too late. The crested avian had to take a serious double-take the second he discovered the rat now stood on the log in between the two oddball pairs and no longer beside him.

Tony's shock couldn't begin to compare with Vincent's and Abby's, though.

"What—OOF!" How could a scrawny tail, much less that of an old rat, be able to knock the wind from a full-grown bear's lungs?

"We're not—!" Jim tossed back at the bearess a stare that clearly said, 'Let me do the talking.'

"Wait, this guy is giving out marriage advice...and he's not even married yet?" The mink wife did not sound pleased. Her husband, too, looked prepared to give Vincent a piece of his mind—and maybe a slap upside the head for the heck of it.

Jim, jovial smile withstanding, acted quickly and seamlessly. "Well, o' course not; Vincent wouldn't wanna rush his fifth marriage now, would he?"

'_F-F-Fifth...!?'_ Vincent looked about ready to have a heart attack! Or ready to make his self-vow to kill Jim a reality!

Meanwhile, Abby's mind went into overdrive. _'Geez, four bad marriages in a row...? If that weren't a blatant lie, it'd be no wonder that his temper's so sour!'_ Then again, if Vincent had been a hothead for his whole life, then that lie would have been even _less_ hard to believe.

'_After all, he hardly acted attracted to me ever since we met. I barely managed to squeeze a few drops friendliness out of this big, ol' grump. He only sees me as a friend—or an annoying acquaintance at least—I can live with either one all the same.'_

Her attention shifted to the other side of the relationship. _'And how do __**I **__feel about __**him**__?' _

She dared a subtle glance at the larger male, who still looked as if his brain were on neutral. _'Well...he's not in the prime of his youth, but then again he's nice enough to look at...just as long as he's not throwing another temper tantrum like an overgrown two-year old.'_

Speaking of tempers, Abby could easily recall the times Vincent acted downright nasty...sometimes a little impatient, too...And let's face facts. Even someone as innocent as Abby wasn't blind enough to deny Vincent's frightening aura and presence.

'_But...'_

But what...Why did that pesky three-letter word keep coming up in spite of Abby's inability to think up the proper words to go with it?

That reason became somewhat clear when memories of the lake suddenly flashed back to her. She got him to laugh; she got him to listen to her music...

'_And smile—he has a really, really nice smile.'_ Her emerald eyes slowly widened in unison with the ascension of her head as this statement confirmed her deep-seated suspicions: there _was _good under all that scowl and fume. Getting to it merely required a little digging and patience—just like with a puzzle.

'_I don't like him enough to marry him_,' Abby barely managed to hide a blush at the mere thought, '_...but I still like him enough to help him when the going gets tough. It's what friends do, right? I think...'_ Well, right now seemed like a rather tough spot for Vince.

Thankfully, the interspecies couple no longer sported expressions of outrage, much to the relief of both bears. The mahogany mink put a hand to her chest in instant embarrassment. "Oh...I am so sorry, sir. I-I...didn't know."

Her apology, unfortunately for her, sparked her husband's need for payback. "Yeah ha, well that'll teach you to be a hypocrite of your own words now, don't it?"

Caroline snappily retorted with an icy glare, "I was just trying to be sure, Butterball!"

And here the crux of the issue revealed itself—and Vincent, as he would have at a certain raccoon, leapt at that crux instantaneously. With a triumphant slam of his hands onto the log, "Ah ha, hold it right there—both of you!"

When he felt certain one-hundred percent that he had the attention of both Eddy and Caroline, Vincent sat back down and continued on. "_That _is the problem in your relationship. Neither one of you is takin' the time to fully consider the other's words. You two just go on an' on, tryin' to drown out your spouse's voice without botherin' to consider his or her point of view."

Abby took advantage of the pause Vincent took by voicing her two cents next. "Mister...um..."

Taking note of the hesitation, Vincent whispered into her nearest ear, "Edward Farrows..." a clandestine, half-lidded stare from Jim, perched on his right shoulder, made the bear hastily add, "...uh, honey..." God that sounded weird on his tongue!

"Thanks, Vince," the bearess thanked, strong-willed enough to avoid feeling fazed by the forcedly affectionate address, "Eddy—may I call you Eddy—women in certain marriages eventually tend to feel as if they're being pushed aside...underappreciated even."

The beaver balked at the words as if he'd been slapped. "Ah appreciate wha' my wife does."

This response didn't quite answer the whole question, so Abby shot from another angle. "Okay, then riddle me this: how often do you thank her for a job well done? I don't need anything elaborate for an answer—just right off the top of your head."

Once again, Eddy looked affronted by the bearess's words. Pulling defensive countenance, the beaver fervently stated, "Well, that's an easy one! There was...,"

...Except he came up short with an adequate example..."Well, this one time...There was one...No, definitely not that..."

In dawning realization, Eddy looked down at the ground right beneath his feet then lifted his stare back up to the bear pair, his russet eyes wide with shamed disbelief. "Gosh...I-I never do, do I?"

The satisfied Caroline promptly shook her head with a sly smirk, "Nope..."

Abby caught the mink's expression however. "Unfortunately, he's not the only one who needs to work things out"

Caroline looked at her with confusion, her feeling of alleged "victory" crumbling in seconds.

Vincent cleared his throat. "If I may..." He continued after an affirmative nod from Abby, "Mrs. Farrows...While what my fiancée just said is true, I have seen other marriages where the reverse is just as real. Do you, by any chance, let him have the floor whenever there's a problem or the two of you have a disagreement?"

Just like her husband, Caroline defended herself and her communication skills. "I let him have the floor."

And just like how Abby did with Eddy, Vincent pushed the subject by inquiring, "Then allow me to ask the next question: how often do you let him _have_ his say?"

Whereas Eddy merely tried to blurt whatever came to mind...Caroline never said anything in response. She merely looked away, unsure how to respond to that question...or too afraid. She jumped a little at the rough, callous feel of her husband's hand on her back.

"Honey..."

Caroline, slowly but surely, turned her head to gaze upon the careworn eyes of her love. She hesitated one more second before her voice came out soft and meekly, albeit slightly raspy.

"Let's say hypothetically...that I'm afraid you might leave me. I'm not as pretty as I used to be—and we both know I'm not getting any younger. Let's say I just...when I see you giving someone else that glazed-over look...—and this is still hypothetical, of course—I panic. I get confused, I get angry. My last husband left me because he fell for another woman. I lost control...and it's possible I worry the same thing will just happen again."

At this admittance, Eddy looked at his wife with wide eyes full of shock! "You...feel the same way?"

"What...?" Something in her tone suggested disbelief—and relief, too, perhaps?

"Really, I feel the same way!" He put hand to his chest in ease and understanding. "I ain't gettin' any younger myself. Mah teeth always get to grindin' when I see you staring at those younger men. Those skinnier men...It's all I can do not to beat those twerps to pulp and carry you away to a place where nobody can bother us. I'm worried you'll get too tired of an old, ugly thing like me—uh, hypothetically, that is."

A little slap skipped across the beaver's cheek...but softly and playfully..."You're not old...or ugly...just big and stupid...just the way I want you."

As the couple shared a grateful smile, Vincent and Abby looked on with varying degrees of admiration and pride.

Vincent supportively piped up, "If it's any consolation, people, even when they're married, check out other people all the time. There ain't no harm in it; it's just natural."

Abby nodded her head fervently, adding, "Yeah, me and Vince do a lot ourselves, in fact! And look at us!"

Vincent, though he remembered this whole marriage counselor shtick was actually pretend, couldn't help chuckling to himself. He had to give Abby due credit where she deserved it: she sure knew how to help lighten the mood.

* * *

><p>"You know something?"<p>

Vincent raised an eyebrow curiously at the bearess next to him. The two of them were currently relaxing in the middle of a campsite not in use, the tangerine afternoon sun casting their shadows long behind them. Slim Jim and Tony were who knows where, probably doing whatever old goats like them do.

"What?"

The cinnamon bearess nudged the male bear's nearest shoulder with a light, playful punch. "We kinda make a pretty good team!"

'_She's still going on about that?'_ Vincent thought in surprise. This time, though, the bear felt no irritation or impatience towards Abby...well at least not after she helped him out of that "scrap" a few hours ago.

Huffing through his nose in a gruff but amused way, Vince shook his head before looking back up to the cloudy sky. "Okay, so maybe you did okay back there. Just don't let it get to your head, kid."

"Hey Vincent...?"

The addressed hummed inquisitively, curious about what the bearess wished to know this time. Abby's eyebrows were slightly scrunched in likewise curiosity...even though there lay in her eyes traces of what Vincent swore was annoyance.

"Why do you keep calling me 'kid'?"

Vincent returned her look for a few seconds before his eyes widened in understanding. He scoffed, "Cuz, _kid_...you still got a long way to go before you can call yourself an adult."

He cut her off before she could protest, "And, no, your physical age doesn't count as a counterargument."

'_So much for that proverbial edge then...'_ Abby childishly lamented as she shut her mouth into a pout. She crossed her arms and looked away in a random direction, mulling over the elder bear's words.

Vincent shook his head once again at the bearess's behavior. _'My point proven...she's such a kid sometimes—arguing like she thinks without a doubt that she'll win, being chummy with every single person she runs into, even me...'_

No surprise then that throughout that whole "session" she depended solely on advice handed down to her by others whereas Vincent had relied on firsthand experience (his mistakes included...well most of them at least...)...

Actually, now that Vincent thought over Abby's hand-me-down suggestions from earlier, he couldn't help asking himself: _'Who taught her all of that?'_

Better yet, what was Abby's story? Vincent already knew she was friends with RJ, as well as that she'd obviously never met another bear before in her life, especially if her unforgettable awestruck expression from the first time the two bears met was any indication.

Regardless, s_omeone_ had to have taught her all of those suggestions—either that or she merely watched others go through rocky marriages...a possibility Vincent highly doubted due to the girl's young age; one doesn't simply pick up such things like a sponge absorbs water.

"Do you think I'll ever find a mate, Vincent?"

The addressed jumped a bit, shocked by not only the question but also the uncharacteristic timidity in Abby's voice. He quickly regained himself, however, and cleared his voice, his tone serious but awkward, "It's like I said, kid. You got a long way to go. 'Sides, you still got plenty of years left on ya. What's the rush?"

Abby merely shrugged, her shyness fading but uncertainty still alight in her emerald eyes. "I keep thinking about how you used to be married and how you know all that you know. Tony told me you'd be the best person to teach me how to survive out in the wilderness."

Vincent shook his head in bemusement. He thought back to how she managed to collect all of that food from yesterday and her recent trek from an hour ago. "Tch, believe me, Abby, you did _not_ look like you needed help. I know this because I personally went with you today on your search for food. Sure, I gave out a few pointers, but you carried yourself as easily as if you'd been living in the forest your whole life."

The smaller bear blushed beneath her fur, thankful Vincent couldn't see it. "I learned from the best."

At the questioning look her companion gave her, Abby sighed to herself. _'I guess he was bound to hear this sooner or later, so here goes.'_

"You might wanna get comfy, Vincent. This story's going to be a long one."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, didn't expect me to make Vincent do what he did in this chapter now, did ya? And don't worry about Abby's story being cut off. The next chapter will take care of that.<strong>


	12. Where Did You Come From?

**I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis ****_didn't_**** think up for Over the Hedge.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Today had to have been the craziest day Verne ever went through in his entire life—and it wasn't even halfway done yet. And after living with RJ for the past year, _that _was really saying something.

Right now, the turtle was dangling by his ankle from a rope that hung from a high branch, the other end being held near ground level by someone who could've easily passed for a Mini-Me version of a certain raccoon. Heck, the look-alike even shared RJ's impish grin.

Verne was not amused, especially after he just told his family he'd be back soon from finding RJ, who had been gone to scout out today's heist for a while longer than usual. The other hedgies must've been just as worried for the paternal reptile as for the raccoon by now.

"Alright, young...," Verne paused in mid-lecture to scrutinize the kit's scruffy appearance, "man...lady...put me down this instant!"

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting as a reaction from the kit—even though being released, for starters, would've been nice—but he never anticipated for the child's face to suddenly twist in aggravation.

"Geez, why the heck does everyone take so long to figure out I'm a _girl_?!" The high-pitched voice said everything.

Verne blushed at his mistake, his cheeks a darker shade of green than his skin. "Um...sorry...listen, how about we talk this out? Please...? You said you and your brother wanted to see RJ, right?"

According to what she told Verne a few minutes after she caught the unsuspecting turtle in the well-camouflaged trap, the girl and her male twin had journeyed for miles per their mother's dying wish to join with a relative of their family—RJ, to be exact—only to be captured by Verm-Tech along the way. The kits managed to escape, but from that point on, they had to rely on stealth to get here, especially when they got in the suburbs.

That was as much information as the girl was willing to share with Verne before she clamped her mouth shut and said nothing more—other than casual insults meant to dissuade the turtle from probing any further.

"Yeah, what's it to you, Scales?" the kit barked, her expression stony but calm.

"Actually, I happen to know RJ." He took the girl's look of surprise as a sign to continue on. "Yeah, in fact, I can even introduce you to him, if you'd like me to. But I need you to get me down first, okay?"

This child seemed a little temperamental and sassy, but Verne knew a logical person when he saw one.

The girl didn't disappoint him when she coolly asked, albeit with a strong note of suspicion, "How do I know you won't give me the slip the second I let you down?"

Verne frantically waved his hands, his eyes wide with sincerity. "No, no, I won't! I promise."

The girl narrowed her aquamarine eyes. She required some proof before giving this guy the benefit of a doubt. "You swear?"

"Yes, I swear," Verne assured her, trying his best to not sound annoyed, "Scout's Honor."

In spite of herself, the kit giggled at the reptile's blotched attempt at the Scout sign—it looked more like the Vulcan salute—before she lowered the rope slowly enough for Verne to touch land without banging his head on the grassy, forest floor.

After offering her thanks, Verne struggled for a few seconds in trying to loosen the knots still clenched around his ankle. Whatever which of the twins did to tie this rope, he or she did a bang-up job doing it. The poor reptile's stubby fingers couldn't manage to undo the tight bights and binds that kept the knots together.

The girl sighed and rolled eyes as she finally walked up to Verne, pushing away his hands to work out the knot for him. "I'll do it. It'll be spring by the time you're finished."

That statement, jokey as it sounded, raised some alarm in Verne, making him almost forget about the kit. "Oh no, it's only five more days 'til winter!"

The exclamation earned Verne a weird but surprised look from the kit. "You keep track of that?"

Verne blushed once again as he coughed to hide his embarrassment. "Yes, well..._someone_ has to. It's more of a habit than anything else...but it's a useful habit!"

The girl snorted at the turtle's words, but the light in her eyes carried enjoyment rather than mockery. "Geez, you are a heck of a worrywart, aren't you?"

_'Well, I think I'm starting to see the family resemblance,' _Verne mused in unamused annoyance. He might as well have been talking to RJ, right now. Still, he was grateful this kid wasn't acting so cold towards him anymore. Being so used to only mischief and over-energized antics, Verne had found the child's distrust, though somewhat relatable, to be jarring.

"So what's your name?"

Hearing that question made Verne take a double-take. He hadn't counted on being asked something so forward. _'Well, my tail's not tingling yet, and there's no sense of foreboding doom in me yet, so I say I'm in the clear as far as this kid is concerned.'_

Speaking of kids...

A small, furry, form burst from the hedge behind the pair and tackled Verne from behind, the unprepared reptile falling flat onto his face. Chipper, childish chuckling rang just above his head as an older raccoon sauntered up to the compressed tortoise.

"I see you got to meet Pete," RJ pointed out with a wry grin while he strolled around the tested reptile. "Sorry the little guy couldn't help jumping at the opportunity to meet you."

Verne couldn't decide what to cringe at more—dealing with _two_ unexpected surprises...or RJ's idea of literal humor. He lifted his head from the grass, spitting out dirt and greenery as he did, before he addressed the raccoon crouched down in front of him.

"Hey, getting into embarrassing situations a la raccoon is just part of my new lifestyle," Verne muttered with a sarcastic frown. A curious humming came up from his left. Oh yeah, he'd forgotten about his little "guest."

"Verne...so _that's _your name?" the girl asked as she stood by the boy raccoon still seated atop Verne's shell. _'I'd been thinking he'd be more of a Vernon, but hey close enough.'_

"It sounds close enough when you think about. It almost sounds like the Spanish word for green. And there're lots and lots and lots of symbolism and sayings for the color green—green with envy, green around the gills, having a green thumb, the rub of the green, green stuff—Mm, hmph! Mm, hmph, hmph!"

Pete's sister just clamped his mouth shut before dragging him off from Verne's shell so the tortoise could get up. She figured the poor reptile had enough problems to deal with. He already looked like he had enough of those to go around even _before_ she ensnared him.

"Sorry, my brother Pete here is a bit of a chatterbox," she released her hold on her brother's muzzle, "The name's Kate, by the way. Call me Katie if you want. Call me Kat and ya die."

Verne merely gave RJ a look that said 'We'll talk about this later' before looking back at the girl. "Yes, well...Kate...you and your brother sure cut it close. Winter's just around the corner and, bygone, the two of you are lucky you made it here without getting caught."

"Twice, actually," Pete pointed out, unabashed, "We only got captured once, but we got out the very next day. It turned out being a lot easier than we thought so..." he paused at the significant look from his sister, "I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"

Kate nodded, her approving grin saying everything. Peter blushed, "I'll shut up now."

His sister shook her own head then patted him on the back, "Hide your shame, Petey. Hide your shame."

"Well, since we now have introductions out of the way," Verne clapped his hands to capture the kits' attention, "let's get you two a place to stay for the night."

He paused in mid-sentence at the peculiar looks the kits were giving him and RJ.

RJ shared a confused look with Verne before jokingly stating in an attempt to lighten the mood, "Uh...what's up? Did Verne land in something on the way down?"

After hastily checking himself to assure that wasn't the case, Verne threw a glare at the raccoon, who merely threw his own hands up in mock defense.

Thankfully, Kate gave RJ and Verne the full details—or least as much as she felt the two adults needed without compromising herself and her brother. Better safe than sorry after all...

"Listen, that's nice of you guys, but Pete and I don't exactly think we'd do well in a family setting...especially if the family's like mega-mondo huge. We're a bit of trouble-makers, to be honest."

Pete nodded in agreement, silent for once. Kate continued as she rubbed the back of her head out of embarrassment, "Besides, we're so used to it being just the two of us. And with winter just around the corner, I don't think we'd be able to get used to everyone in time."

The girl's explanation brought expressions of sympathy to both Verne's and RJ's faces. They couldn't fathom how far of a journey these kits must've been through to admit, much less believe, such worries.

_'Ah geez, we can't turn 'em away just like that,'_ RJ thought as he crossed his arms in concern and looked to Verne. "Well, Vernarino, whadda say?"

The tortoise shook his head in defeat, his heart already winning over his head. RJ was right. These kids _had _traveled a long way, not to mention risked a lot to get here, and turning them away now would be cruel, especially with an apparent family member here.

_'Oh, I'll get the details later,'_ Verne locked that thought in the back of his head for the time being as he gestured a hand to tell the twins to follow him and RJ. "Just remember, RJ: they're _your _responsibility. You _are _the reason they showed up here in the first place."

The eldest raccoon held a hand as if taking a solemn oath...even though the mischievous grin on his muzzle and the wink he gave the twins suggested otherwise. "I assure you, Verne, these kids will be first-rate citizens thanks to me."

That sentence earned RJ a look of doubt from Verne, who worriedly changed his mind. "On second thought, a few extra hands might not hurt."

* * *

><p><strong><span>Meanwhile, somewhere outside the hedge...<span>**

Robert was _not _having a good day. In fact, his day had recently upgraded from "lousy" to "headache-worthy."

Being an assistant to someone as strict and icy as Delilah gave enough challenges for someone as meek as the chubby redhead. The only reason he'd taken this job (other than the one that was Delilah's "secret weapon") was due to the immense pressure placed upon him by his parents, who'd both been proud graduates with master's degrees from Verm-Tech.

He, on the other hand, had had other plans. Compared to the rest of him family, as well as his fellow employees, Robert harbored a special love for animals, especially the small, cuddly ones. Because of this love, his dream had been to become a zoologist, someone who studied and helped animals rather than captured and killed them.

_'Wait, what am I even doing here?'_ Robert mused to himself, stopping at a street corner as a light came on from above, bathing the man in a halo of yellow illumination.

He looked down at the bulky contraption that lay in his hands. Though disguised to look like a dark-grey rock with convincing grey speckles, there were bulbs and wires on the top and the sides and a giant, dangling tube in the back that ruined the camouflage. What made the man shudder, though, was the sound of scampering and scratching. He could scarcely hear the piteous, terrified squeaks of rats trapped within the contraption, set but unwilling to be capped at the first sign of vermin.

Again he thought, _'What am I doing here? Why couldn't Delilah get someone else to do her dirty work?'_

His troubled mind reverted to the conversation between him and his boss from earlier.

* * *

><p><em>A strong hand griped Robert by the cuff of his collared shirt and lifted him off his feet. <em>

_Delilah was not pleased. "Robert. Tell me. Who did I put in charge of two measly kits?"_

_"Me," he responded in terror, all too familiar with his boss's temper._

_Delilah hummed in terse approval. "Who is the one who could have been ordered to guard the more hostile and dangerous subjects instead...but never was?"_

_"M-Me."_

_Her face neared his, letting Robert get a good look at her chilling eyes. "And who is going to be responsible for catching those kits so that the secret to our base is never revealed, thereby circumventing the consequence of every news media, animals' rights activists, and their grandmothers from banging on our doorstep?"_

_Robert looked off to the side in defeat. "Also me."_

_He felt a finger touch his bulbous, cherry-red nose, even though the contact did little to calm him. Turning his head to catch his boss's malicious smile didn't do him much good either._

_"Well...yes and no...you __**are**__ going to recapture the kits...except you're going to need to some help doing so," the woman wagged her finger. "Even for raccoons, they're much too crafty to be captured by a single person. However..."_

_Robert had a bad feeling about where this conversation was headed. The sinister, slithering shadows cast upon his boss's heart-shaped face didn't help him much either. "However...?"_

_"Let's just say there's some technology left over from the "olden days" that might suit our purposes quite nicely," Delilah suddenly pointed to the ground beneath Robert, "Be downstairs at the front doors in five minutes; our boys in the lab will have something for you by then."_

_The last detail Robert remembered seeing before being dropped to the floor and left alone in the office was Delilah's dark smile, her high-heels sounding like knives scrapping against the floor._

* * *

><p>Robert felt his shoulders slump, his emerald eyes sagging even more than usual from the reminder.<p>

_'Of course...And she'll ruin me if I as so much as mess this task up by the slightest detail.'_ Robert rolled his eyes at this thought. Delilah was notorious for being a strict perfectionist.

Not only that but aside from her anger and ruthlessness, many Verm-Tech workers feared her due to the numerous "connections" she had. Just one call from her and you could kiss whatever new job you had your eyes on goodbye. One time, she went so far as to get a technician from another company fired all because he overlooked a single light-bulb in the men's bathroom.

And Robert, for reasons he'd rather not mull over, happened to be one of Delilah's "favorites." She always made sure to pile a sizeable chuck of her work on top of him, never gave him a day off, even on holidays, and never once gave him a compliment, much less a "good job" or "thank you."

And the worse part: Delilah always knew every detail about her employees' mistakes: what they screwed up, how they screwed up, why they screwed up, etc. So even if Robert _did _manage to ditch this stupid, evil contraption, his boss would find out all the same—whether by secret video feeds or simply scaring the answers out of him. She could be very intimidating when she wanted to be.

_'There's no way out of this and no way to fight it.'_ Robert trudged his way to the trap's designated spot and languidly set it on the ground before planting himself on the nearby sidewalk. Hands under his chin, he breathed a long, heavy sigh. His despondency couldn't have been more evident than if the sky had been raining.

Robert rubbed a hairy hand over his face before looking up to the pinpricked stars not blotted out by the streetlights. _'Please let there be a way out. Please let there be a way out.'_

* * *

><p><strong><span>Back in the hedge...<span>**

"Quick, quick, get to the ramp!" Quillo eagerly pointed out as he, his two prickly brothers, Hammy, Heather, and Kate watched over Peter's shoulder. For a first-timer, the kit wasn't doing half-bad.

"I see it! I see it!" The raccoon flipped his fingers from button to button with such speed his digits were almost blurs. Before long, the game in Peter's hand blipped as the pixelated car on the screen soared off a red-lighted ramp and into the air. Seconds later, a bright-green, blinking "**WIN**" took up the whole screen.

"Bonus points!" Kate cheered as she, Heather, and the boys, Hammy included, all shared high-fives. The adults stood away from a distance, looking at the scene in amusement, not surprised at the children's quick acceptance of the twins.

"Heh, told those two they had nothing to worry about!" RJ proudly commented to Verne, elbowing the tortoise in the arm. Verne merely rolled his eyes, even though there was no use hiding his relieved smile. He was very thankful the kids' introduction to the rest of the family went off without a hitch.

"Aw jeepers, though, the poor things," a female porcupine cooed in a Canadian accent, "They came all this way by themselves? I'm surprised they don't look so tired, yeah?"

"Tell me 'bout it, Pen," a skunk of the same gender—Stella— agreed, her beautiful green eyes thoughtful, "Those squirts _must_ be related to RJ. Who else could pull off something so...so...?" Stella paused to think up a good word.

Tiger, her larger, snow-white furred housecat mate, quipped in his silky, Persian voice, "Clever...?"

"Ingenious...?" Ozzie, Heather's theatre-inspired dad, added.

"Wicked awesome...?" Everyone, the other kids included, looked at Bucky in blank silence. "Oh...sorry..."

Stella quickly broke the quiet, however, nodding at the porcupette. "Close actually; I was gonna say 'insane like nuthin' else.'"

Peter raised an eyebrow at the skunk's words. "But that's still like 'wicked awesome,' right?"

RJ smirked at the kit's question. "My little _compadre, that _is like a T.K.O to a T. And I do mean one to the other guy and not to your own self."

"So do you two have, like, plans for when spring comes?" Heather hurried her next words at the confused looks the twins gave her. "I mean...not that you two _should_ leave. I mean..."

_'Oh yeah, step back out in the open yonder where dangers abound. I miss the thrill of near-death experiences already.'_

But Kate knew she couldn't say that to Heather. The opossum had only been curious, perhaps even concerned. She'd been as nice to her and Pete as much as everyone else of RJ's family had been, so answering her with sarcasm would've simply been unfair.

"Well..."

All the hedgies, the young ones included, felt their concern grow more and more the longer Kate took to respond.

For a change, her brother came to her rescue instead of the other way around. "RJ isn't the only person we were supposed to find. At least that's what we think. Mom tried to tell us something else, but she died before she could finish telling us."

All of the adults shared gazes of perplexity at the mystery behind the kit's words, and Verne detected no signs that Peter was lying—no nervous twittering, no stuttering, and, most of all, no breaks in eye contact.

He and Kate had honestly barely a clue as to who else they were meant to find. They could very well be on a wild goose chase—and pay the price for in the process...which was why the reptile didn't regret saying the following words:

"Better make room in the log, kids. We're gonna be a bit more packed this winter than usual."

* * *

><p><strong>I realize that turtles and tortoises are different animals, but I'm not going to bother going through this entire chapter or the next ones to correct them just because of a technicality.<strong>


	13. History and Her-story

**Do I have too many characters right now? Yeah, I did not notice. Oh well, anyway I feel like I've been taking this story nowhere...so I'm gonna keep on doing it! Whether this story sinks or swims, I intend to finish it!**

**I only own the characters and plot devices I cranked out of my head. Everything else belongs to Dreamworks Animation and those two comic guys.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

**_20 years ago..._**

_An adorable, tiny bear cub marched in step with a rotund, chubby-faced redhead as the unlikely pair trekked down the hallway, their smiles identical in spite of the difference in species. The redhead had his hands flying to and fro sporadically, his excitement evident from the great smile on his face._

_"Oh, just you wait, Abby. Daddy got you a whole new set of bouncy balls just today!" The redhead clapped his hairy hands together as he said this. "You'll love them!"_

_Abby couldn't bear the wait any longer. Like her human companion, she, too, couldn't keep energy inside her bottled. She started to run around the man's legs enthusiastically, her yips sounding off like firecrackers on the Fourth of July. Robert couldn't keep himself from chuckling at his adopted cub's antics, even as he had trouble walking whilst the young one dashed around his legs. She was just too cute._

_"Robert."_

_But like a balloon being popped, the happy atmosphere disappeared in an instant, Robert grimacing as he heard his name being called by the one person he'd hoped in vain to avoid for the rest of the day. Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned to find none other than his boss standing in the doorway of her immaculate office._

_And she had a smirk on her face, too. Not good._

_Robert, steeling his resolve, faced Delilah with as straight a face as he could manage. He also made sure to keep Abby well out of the sharp-eyed woman's sight; that wasn't going to be much of a problem actually, since the cub didn't seem too keen on letting Delilah see her either. _

_Whether Delilah herself noticed the cub's reaction to her, Robert couldn't tell. Then again, there never lay any clue when it came to that woman—none that meant a good thing, at least._

_"I'd like to have a word with you please." Delilah was wagging a finger at Robert to herself—a clear sign she needed him for something...again. And with that smirk on her face, Robert doubted he'd be in for something pleasant._

_He swallowed down a lump in his throat before turning his head to address Abby, trying his best to keep his tone even and calm. "Abby, sweetie...I want you to go back to your room. Daddy will be back soon."_

_The cub rubbed her head against Robert's head, whining sadly, unwilling to leave her human alone with the spooky lady. She feared that woman might hurt her Robert somehow. But when she caught the stern look in her human's green eyes, her desire to stay with him retreated to the back of her mind._

_With the fear still in her eyes, Abby slowly turned and walked away. Today wasn't starting out as well as she hoped it would._

_But things would turn out better._

_They always did._

**_'Please be over soon. That's all I ask for.'_**

* * *

><p>"I only thought 'over' would mean that stupid meeting."<p>

Vincent said nothing in response. He was too wrapped up in listening to Abby's origins...and he had a sinking feeling about the next part.

"I was wrong."

* * *

><p><strong><em>CLANK!<em>**

_What...What was he doing? Abby shot her head around the second she caught the sounds of the iron, chain-link fence slamming shut just behind her. She had assumed Robert had been taking her out for one of their usual walks—an unusual time due to the increasingly cold temperatures._

_But something wasn't right anymore. _

_"Daddy...Daddy...?" The concerned cub stood on her hind legs and gripped the fence with her front paws. She almost could have passed for a lost, little kid._

_Even if Robert could understand her squeaky growls, he couldn't have brought himself to answer. His heart still raced with fear and anger. Delilah's words still ringed in his head, their cold meaning sending shivers up his spine. _

_She wanted the cub. She wanted the final ingredient to bring her greatest plan to fruition. And she honestly believed Robert—the weak-minded fool—would do nothing to stop her._

_The "fool" had fooled her well._

_And now Abby would be free. No matter how much both she and Robert wished otherwise. _

_That was why he didn't regret doing what he did next._

_"I'm sorry, sweetie..." Robert could barely hold back his tears as his trembling hand pressed down on the button next to the threshold. "But I have to let you go!"_

_Abby had no time to react before the fence gave her a painful shock that sent her reeling back. Surprised and in agony, the poor cub reflected her human's teary expression, too speechless to even growl. There lay no anger or spite in his eyes; he looked more like he wanted to jump over the fence and be with her, in spite of his holding back._

_He didn't hate her. She hadn't done anything wrong. So why was he treating her this way? Was there something scary coming for her? Was it that scary lady?_

_But then couldn't he come with her instead? _

_She didn't want him to face the scary woman alone. More importantly, she didn't want to be alone herself. She looked back at the woods behind her, the trees forming shadows that stretched towards the cub like the arms of an intangible monster that could sense her fear._

_Abby shivered at the thought of the dangers that lay ahead in the darkness beyond the only home she had ever known. At least here with Robert, she knew of the risks; she knew exactly what—and more importantly, who—to avoid._

_Not like out there._

_She'd be alone, she'd be lost, she'd starve..._

_She'd die._

_She didn't want to die._

_She wanted to be with her human._

_She could not. _

_The bullet Robert fired at her proved that._

_Instinct became the cub's sole drive the second the bullet grazed the grass right by her paws. All that repeated in her head was "Run away. Run far, far away."_

* * *

><p>"So he ditched you when the going got tough, huh? Tch, humans...OW! What the—"<p>

Something had just struck his shoulder hard—a fist, in fact. But something else struck him even harder the second he shifted to the bearess next to him in disbelief, something he would have never expected: Abby glaring at him.

"Robert was the best human I ever knew," she hissed in a voice full of uncharacteristic anger, "And he wanted more than anything to keep me with him."

Abby looked down, her sadness dulling the edge of her temper. "But he didn't keep me. He let me go...because he loved me more than he feared the monster after us."

Her tone struck Vincent like a five-alarm truck more than her words did. It instantly reminded the bear of RJ, how that little runt tried so hard, even went so far as to risk his life, just to keep a group of nameless strangers safe.

No, not nameless strangers—his family; that raccoon had been protecting his family. It was only now did Vincent realize how reckless he'd been in his actions. And it was also that he discovered the reason behind his comment about humans, particularly about Robert.

Even though the words he'd uttered carried spite, Vincent actually said them—he'd said them on Abby's behalf!_ 'Fine, I admit it. I give a damn care about her! I don't how it happened or how she got me to do it, but there it is! I care!'_

And why shouldn't he? This kid had only been...well, a kid back then, yet she got the boot and had to fend for herself. He had seen humans do some lowdown things, so this didn't surprise him.

But Abby defended one of them anyway.

Because that's what families did—just like how Robert let her go to keep her safe.

And, believe it or not, Vincent knew that better than anyone else. That was why he tried so hard to be a loner. The last time...and the time before that—

Vincent gripped his paws into fists and suppressed a heavy growl. Every time...Every single, stinking time Abby was near him...

_'Family! Family! Family! It always undoes itself in the end!'_ Why couldn't the stupid idea of it leave him alone then? Why couldn't Abby leave him alone, for that matter? And why, most importantly, did he _not_ want to be left alone?

_'God...I'm getting soft,'_ he lamented as he slapped a paw over his face in exasperation. He fell back onto the grass with his face to the sky.

"There's a nice, solid tree by that rock over there."

That sentence came out of Abby like a salmon bursting from a river of silence. She even pointed out said tree, which stood out just a few feet away from the bear pair (even though Vincent couldn't tell the difference between it and the rest of the dozens of identical trees around this clearing).

_'Okay, that was random.'_

"If you're worried about getting soft, Vince," she didn't bother to look at him, "then feel free to do something badass to occupy yourself. Hopefully it'll take the edge off your temper."

The male bear raised an eyebrow at Abby's use of the word "badass," but he also frowned at the icy tone of voice she'd kept using with him. Okay, so maybe he had that treatment coming to him. He _had _misjudged Robert rather rashly. So maybe—perhaps, probably—he owed her a slight apology.

"Okay, listen, Abby," he removed his paw from his face and eyed the sow with a wary but sincere look, "cuz I'm only gonna say this once: I'm sorry."

She glanced his way on the word "sorry," her arms crossed, but that was all. She wasn't convinced yet.

Groaning a bit, Vincent sat up and neared his face to Abby's. "I am _very_ sorry."

She still didn't soften her expression. Screw self-control. Vincent had to grit his teeth at the woman's insistent refusal to believe him.

"I am so—very—from the bottom of my heart—sorry," Vincent uttered in a droll monotone, rolling his eyes. "I beg of you. Please find it in your heart to forgive me." _'Before I get diabetes from all this forgiveness crap.'_

...

Nothing. Ugh, this was the final straw then! Vincent, gripping all the while, prepared to stand up. "On second thought, I _will_ take your offer on that tree." _'Women...' _He didn't get three steps before Abby grabbed his wrist.

"I'm sorry. I'm so used to people insulting Robert that I usually just block them out and wait until they leave. They never bothered to understand how I feel about him." She tilted her head at Vincent. "You're the first to ever stick around to apologize."

She regained her usual smile to an extent, a sign that Vincent took as a promising one. The male couldn't help returning the expression back, too relieved to let his frustration at her past silence settle. "Did you ever bother telling them to take back what they said about the guy before?"

This question incited a deep blush from Abby, who looked utterly taken off-guard by Vincent's keen and insightful suggestion. She looked away to gaze into the lake, deep in thought. _'No...I guess I never did.'_

"I always tried hoping that whoever to whom I mentioned Robert would say something positive about him. I let that person have their way if they don't. It was my way of avoiding conflicts." That was why she stopped talking a long time ago about her past to others; she'd had enough of the insults and jabs.

Vincent shook his head in disapproval. "That's not avoiding conflict. That's letting the conflict walk all over you. Abby, you gotta learn to stand up for yourself."

"I did. So I kept quiet and kept my distance from everyone else, even from the other bears. It worked for me for the ten years after I left home."

"What happened after those ten years?"

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>10 years ago...<span>_**

_A young, lone she-bear trekked the bare, dark coffee forest floor. The rising sun hadn't arose yet, so blue-tinted darkness still lingered over the dense woods like a dominant cloak, the biting cold it brought continuing its licking at the female's cinnamon fur. Winter was not too far behind._

_But the sow refused to let time and temperature deter her. She'd already come too far to give up. She'd gone for too long to throw her hands in defeat._

**_'I just need a little more food. Just little bit more...'_**

_All of a sudden, a soft, hiccupping sound nudged the sow out of her concentration. Raising her ears to better hear, she scanned the woods around her, emerald eyes narrowing to seek out the source._

_Nothing..._

_After a few more moments of fruitless searching, the sow lowered her head in confusion, unsure of whether she should follow the sound. For all she knew, it could be part of a trap...or just end up being an unnecessary detour._

_Either way, time would not be on her side. As if it wasn't dogging her already._

_Unfortunately, her heart couldn't have cared less, and that was the crux of the problem. Even after all these years by herself, the newly teenaged bear still kept her sense of compassion and understanding, albeit somewhat subdued by the distrust instilled in her by her experiences in survival._

**_'It almost sounded like...someone crying.'_**_ The sow abruptly shook her head as dark memories tried to cloud her thoughts. __**'No, bad Abby! Very bad Abby! Think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts...happy thoughts...'**_

_The sound broke her concentration again, only this time it came out clearer. Someone really __**was**__ crying. Why, Abby didn't know, but she knew there'd be no talking herself out of investigating._

_Taking a deep breath to ward off the scalding part of her mind still intent to leave the matter alone, Abby moved forward in the direction in which the sound's volume was loudest. More often than not, the bearess came up cold due to the echoes, which ricocheted off the trees as if they were canyon walls, but by the time the sun almost broke from the horizon, she found herself red-hot on the trail._

_Before long, she could hear bawling and sniffling—too low to belong to a large animal and too high-pitched to be adult. Thanks to the conclusion these details led to in her mind, same memories from before returned to Abby._

_And they were warning her to turn back._

_She pushed on still...until she came across a medium-sized bush...shaking? And, wait...why had the crying just stop? Whatever lurked in there...it knew of her presence._

_Wary of the foliage—and now without doubt about the location of her "target"—Abby gingerly approached until she was close enough to part the leaves...only to discover something she'd have never guessed to find._

_A tiny raccoon, his snowy blue eyes wide with fear at the scary mammal towering over him, his striped tail curled around his body in a meager form of protection and security..._

_For the space of what felt like an eternity, the two children merely stared at each other, both unsure how to respond, much less whether to remain where they were._

_Abby couldn't trust that this child was all on his or her own. She'd learned long ago to know better than to tempt protective parents. Besides, this infant clearly didn't trust her either. So why bother sticking around?_

**_'That's right, Abby—better to leave than cause trouble...' _**

_And listen to it Abby did...almost._

_She would have left that baby alone if a familiar scent hadn't wafted into her nose during that exact moment. Something about the scent made the sow pause in her tracks and furrow her eyebrows with a frown. It didn't...smell right._

_No, it didn't just smell right...It smelled horrible. Coppery and thick...Like something had just—_

_Abby vigorously shook her head, hoping against hope that she was merely being silly. That what her nose was telling her couldn't possibly be..._

_"Wait, that's it. This little guy's parents had a little accident and had to patch themselves up. Yeah, and the little guy was so terrified of his folks being hurt, he needed a little time to himself to recover from the shock."_

_Yeah, perfectly reasonable—there was no need to worry. _

_The smiling bearess took in the metallic smell again. It came off from somewhere to her left. Sure enough, she could spot telltale signs of a large clearing, branches and their foliage preventing Abby from having a full view. So she parted her way through to get a better look._

_The sight nearly made her retch._

_Decaying in the sun, the blood-stained fur mostly still intact save for ruptures and slashes in his neck and chest, was the still body of a male raccoon. His open, vacant stare hinted enough at the amount of life left in him. His arms splayed outward in awkward, unnatural angles and directions as his mouth gaped...almost as if his scream had stopped in mid-kill. _

_Abby gazed upon this scene for barely a second more before swiftly turning her back on the bloodshed, lips pursed in strain and eyes closed...She could already feel the contents of her stomach sloshing around threateningly...begging her to allow herself some form of release..._

_Her emerald eyes suddenly shot open in realization, the nausea momentarily forgotten. Her own reaction, that of a cub almost-turned-teen, justified to be emotionally wrenching enough...imagine the reaction of a—_

_She looked back to the lone raccoon kit, still hidden in the bush as far as she could tell. What if that child...that baby...had seen what Abby had just seen? It'd already seemed hysterical enough before the sow arrived—_

**_'No! You can't care for him, Abby. You're barely a child yourself!'_**

_And how could she expect herself to care for someone when she could hardly remember herself how being cared for felt. _

_A spike of anger went off in Abby at the fact that she hadn't seen the mother anywhere..._

_It passed away seconds later. As if she, a young girl, could rightly judge a grown woman for not being here for her family. For all Abby knew, the mother could have met the same fate as the father._

_Just as easily as she could have left...as much as Abby would rather not entertain that sickening possibility..._

_It wouldn't have surprised her, though. She'd heard plenty of stories of parents abandoning their children, human and animal alike. _

_Heck, certain species even did so out of necessity, natural instinct; it helped the offspring learn independence. Not every animal could afford to be clingy like humans._

**_'That's just life. Things live. Things grow. Things die. That's the point of survival. All you can do is insure you stay alive. Anyone and anything else will just drag you down.'_**

_But she could also relate all too well to that raccoon's pain. Abby remembered in full lucidity the sight of her own dying parents...their blood-spattered coats glistening in the sunlight, their paws stretched out as if trying in vain to reach her..._

_Something vile and sharper than puke arose at the back of the sow's throat, threatening to consume her mind and drive it towards thoughts of retribution, to show Mother Nature a thing of two about breaking families apart..._

_She swallowed it down...then collapsed backwards onto her hindquarters and hid her face in her front paws. _

_'This still isn't fair. This still just isn't fair. Babies belong with their families—their living families...' Not scenes that could have been taken straight out of a horror film..._

_In a moment that seemed as if the whole world had stopped, Abby willed herself to stand back up on all four paws and reluctantly trudge over to the raccoon's bush. Steeling herself once more, the bearess dared a timid peek into the foliage._

_...Only to find the infant fast asleep..._

_Despite her immediate resolve to not rudely wake up the kit, Abby didn't bother to stave off the urge to sigh in relief at her good fortune. She couldn't have asked for a better way to avoid any more emotional overload._

**_'No other way around this huh?'_**_ Nope, her conscience would haunt her to the end of her days, otherwise. So she scooped the baby into her huge paws, taking extra care not to crush him. The raccoon looked frail enough already; Abby didn't even need both paws just to carry him._

_And that fact only intensified her fear. _

_What right did she have to care for him? A juvenile apex predator raising a parentless scavenger? _

_Yet what right did she have to abandon him? A juvenile leaving a baby to suffer the same fate as she?_

_Abby risked a weak smile at the baby still snoozing soundly in her hold. She had her work cut out for her on this one._

**_'It's going to be a long adolescence, isn't it?'_**

* * *

><p>"So you were nothing but a runt back then...and you still had the nerve, gall, and balls to take on parenthood...all for a measly little runt?" <em>'Kinda fits now that I think about it.'<em>

Abby was not amused; her childishly sly grin, on the other hand, suggested her anger wasn't as potent as last time. "Alright, first off, smarty-pants, I was only slightly runt-ish back then. Second, I don't consider myself his mother as much as his big sister. Third...I couldn't bring myself to just leave him, no matter how much sense leaving him alone made."

Vincent rolled his eyes, uttering under his breath, "I wouldn't have expected anything else from you."

The comment caused Abby to give the male a confused stare. "What's that mean?"

"You're too soft," Vincent scoffed in a "duh" tone, "You wear your emotions where everyone can see 'em. You let everyone take a crack at winding you up and breaking you down; even when you take the 'loner road,' you practically ask for folks to walk all over you when you show how you feel."

Vincent paused himself to let his words sink in. Abby seemed to be deeply considering them. Her answer took Vincent by surprise, however.

"You mean I'm not you." She took in Vincent's look of shock. "I get it, Vincent. No matter how well we start to get along, you can't stand the fact that I'm everything you're not just as much as I can't stand you're everything I would've been if RJ hadn't dropped into my life."

Once again, Vincent marveled at how profound Abby could be. He rubbed the back of his neck and stared back at the bearess. She just deep-sixed his pride and then some, probably without even meaning to as far as Vincent knew.

"Listen...I know I sounded like an ass," he put an arm around her in spite of his earlier reluctance to show affection. Was she starting to rub off on him? Well, he _was_ starting to rub off of her (if her moment of righteous fury from a few minutes ago was anything to go by), so fair was fair, right?

"But I made a valid point. Some folks don't give a damn about how you feel. They only want an excuse to step all over you."

"But why," the sow insisted in desperation to understand, "and why does nature make it seem like it's so wrong to do the right thing?"

"That _is_ nature," Vincent craned his head closer to Abby's level, his eyes softening. "Some folks are just messed up like that. And cuz the right thing ain't always the best thing."

Abby scrunched her face up in a pensive manner. Her voice emerged as soft as a dove's coo. "So the best thing would've been to just leave a parentless infant all alone?"

For the first time in this conversation, Vincent had no logical response or snappy comeback for once. He merely gaped like a goldfish, too taken back by the rhetorical question to reply.

But Abby didn't mean what she said with any malice. She truly believed having emotions made a person stronger rather than weaker, contrary to Vincent's words.

She looked away from the larger male, closing her eyes and shrugging her shoulders, a faint smile on her muzzle. "I'll guess I'll never make it in the wild, then, huh? Ah well."

Vincent couldn't really find the proper words to say to her. On one side, he wanted to agree with her; Mother Nature could be a very cruel and unforgiving mistress at times. On the other hand—Vincent looked back at all the times he questioned his plans and outlook on life. He was stubborn, but even _he_ couldn't deny how spending time with the others changed him, especially in Abby's case.

Maybe Tony had been right after all. _'Maybe she really __**did**__ change me the most.'_

By some strange instinct, his grip on her tightened almost protectively. "We're definitely getting you to RJ. You'd fit in with his misfit crew just fine."

"You don't say?" Abby queried in a faint yet humoring tone. There was no hiding the interest in her eyes; what Vincent just said hooked her curiosity. She wanted to know more about Richie's new family.

Vincent nodded. "Oh yeah, apparently they got this whole spiel about family values and all that. It'd be perfect for ya. Heck, it'd probably work out with the others, too."

Abby forced out a laugh but frowned once she realized something. Looking up at Vincent, she asked with some hesitation, "What about you? What will _you_ do?"

Good question; Vincent mulled over it in his mind, but quickly dismissed it. "Eh...I'll figure something out."

After all, he'd already gotten this far.

Abby, on the other hand, had her doubts...but realized she trusted Vincent enough to believe his words. So she breathed out deeply and slowly and leaned her weight against Vincent. Nothing else needed to be said. Nothing else needed to be answered.

Answers would come...eventually.

* * *

><p><strong>To the one person who took the time to favorite this story, I sincerely hope I haven't lost my touch with the characters and the plot.<strong>


	14. Up, Up, and Into the Fire

**Abby: We're back! :D**

**Me: And better than ever, suckers! Heh, just kidding! It's been a while, hasn't it? This story has been haunting me for a while, and I can't get over the fact that I never finished. Be warned, though, my writing style has changed bit since last time.**

**I do not own Over the Hedge or any of its elements or characters. They belong to Dreamworks Animation and Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All I own are Abby, Tony, Slim Jim, Delilah, and anything or anyone else Dreamworks, Fry, and Lewis ****_didn't_**** think up.**

* * *

><p>Late afternoon drifted by, the sun melting from gold to tangerine, as the jubilant voices of people filled the air over the windy wide-ranging plains.<p>

Our dear animals, hidden behind a line of fairly distanced thick trees, were spying on what appeared to be a hot air balloon festival a few feet away from where the forest gave way to grassland, plenty of open space for the humans and all their helium-related fun. Copious stands stood around in rows, advertising a variety of games and demonstrations.

Abby and Jim smiled and awed at the huge hovering balloons and colorfully lively designs and excitedly talked amongst themselves which they considered their favorite.

"For me, it would have to be the one made to look like a sunset sky!"

"Well, little lady, that is mighty purdy! As for me, I'mma gonna go with that there balloony with all those swirly ocean colors."

"Oh, that _does_ look nice! Kinda simple, though."

Vincent lightheartedly scoffed in a 'you-two-are-something-else' manner; he had warmed up to Abby and Jim's oddball natures to the point that he no longer batted an eye at them. Tossing a half-lidded curious glance to Tony, who perched on his hulking shoulder, the bear gestured a paw to the multitude of balloons and tourists.

"So, got any ideas on how the hell we're supposed to get through? I doubt these folks will just let a bunch'a forest animals swagger in like no one's business."

Something in Tony's smirk suddenly made the bear regret asking that question, especially when the avian wagged a feather at him knowingly then pointed it at one of the balloons.

"A wise man once said: 'it is the bird that stands dominance for what beast of earth could ever rival one whose domain is the sky?" At Vincent, Abby, and Jim's mystified stares, he shrugged his lithe shoulders, the corners of his beak upturned in a sheepish grin. "Okay, so I made that one up; you still gotta admit that was pretty good."

Abby stared in empty space for a moment to contemplate. _'He's right. That was kind of good—corny but good. Plus, hijacking one of those balloons would definitely make things a whole lot easier for us.'_

As the gang returned their lines of sight to the balloons, Vincent also had to admit to himself the usefulness of Tony's plan. Flying would go faster than continuing by foot what with their tight schedule and all. That still only left one more problem: how to get into one of those balloons without raising a panic? _'We'd need some damn fine disguises to get through.'_

Tony tapped his wing to his chin, deep in thought. There had to be a way, hmm, but what? He turned to Slim Jim for advice. "Hey, Jim, you and your family are good at stealth, any idea on what we could use from the forest to"—his eyes went wide and blank—"uh, Vincent, Abby? "

"Don't tell us."

"He's gone again?"

"Yeah."

Both bears shared looks full of 'of course', Vincent shooting his eyes to the spot besides Abby where Jim had just been then shaking his head mumbling about 'old coots that don't know how to stay put' while the bearess and Tony quickly scanned the crowds for any telltale signs of goofy Southern rats.

Unfortunately, as a result of their focus on the search for their dear Jim, they never saw the pile of clothes soaring at their heads until impact, resulting in all three animals getting decked to the ground by various fabrics and accessories. Vincent's glaring head popped out from the mound a moment later like a gopher about to kick some rude golfer's sorry keister to kingdom come.

Jim merely beamed in response, thumbs in his armpits and tail waving in pride.

"Would ya'll imagine there's a clothes stand just around the corner from here? Ladies and fellas, I do declare we now have our ruse!"

"Well we gotta give him _this _at least," Abby awed in a hush whisper at all the humans passing them by without so much as a batted eye as she and Vincent strolled through the crowds, arm and arm to fit the guise of a couple, "he really knew what he was doing! I practically feel invisible!"

She absentmindedly scratched her behind. "Itchy but invisible."

"Lucky you," Vincent grumpily mumbled. "I _practically_ feel like we stepped clean out of Bonanza."

No kidding. God, he felt ridiculous!

He was decked out in a blue blazer and matching slacks and Stetson, a white undershirt beneath the blazer while impossibly large black dress shoes squeezed painfully on his rear paws and a tacky purple polka-dotted green tie strangled his throat. Abby wore a poofy pink dress with white lace running down the middle, a red sash around her waist and white elbow-length gloves to hide her claws, a straw sun hat adorned with a massive red bow and carnation umbrella to complete the ensemble.

Well, on the bright side, Abby was right. At least these monkey suits kept the humans from flickering their eyes at them, let alone getting suspicious.

"Quick question: what's a bonanza?"

"Uh...I'll explain some otha' time."

_'__Now we just gotta find an empty balloon,' _Vincent mentally checked as he and Abby perused the area. So far most of the balloons here were either occupied or had too many potential witnesses nearby. And whichever were neither stood too far from the team's current position, too many chances at getting caught.

Where—

"Hey", Tony suddenly whispered from the security of Vincent's blazer collar, hidden from plain view. "I see a mighty good candidate over there." He pointed his wing to a hot-air balloon some distance away from the stands, the balloon decorated to look like a starry night sky.

Vincent nodded with a satisfied grunt. Gaudy as hell, but it would have to do. He carefully tightened his grip on Abby's arm to get her attention and pointed to their destination. "This way," the male bear whispered to her, "we just found our ticket outta this place."

Abby smiled excitedly. "Perfect!" she quietly exclaimed with relief, "This dress is killing me!"

That grievance got Vincent smirking at her in amusement, mainly because he got to hear the happy-go-lucky bearess nitpick.

"Well, okay the dress is really pretty," Abby amended with a shrug of her, "but it's a little hard to breathe in this, especially with my belt underneath."

"I can tell," Vincent commented teasingly, though not unkindly. He hadn't overlooked the faint yet heavy breathing coming from his fellow ursine. He patted his free hand on her nearest shoulder. "It ain't much further, so just hang on a little longer. Then we can say toodle-loo to this gaudy crap for good."

Offering a thankful smile, Abby nodded then gave his cheek a brief nuzzle. The boar tried his best not to blush at the gesture. Woo boy, the things this little lady could get away with him...

Vincent shook his head furiously. _'Better not go there.'_

Fortunately, the walk to their target did not take long at all and no one bothered to stand in their way either (well aside from a rather persistent salesman of Tupperware though a good show of Vincent's canines sent the fool scurrying in a hurry). Meandering around to "check out" the games and souvenir stands (also Jim's idea) also did some good, not so much in way of stealth as much as in securing the team some supplies for Abby to stow away into her belt pouches.

Eventually they reached their designated getaway vehicle. With a huff of "alley-oop", Vincent helped Abby aboard then aided her in tossing off the sandbags while Tony and Jim (who'd been hiding beneath the bearess's hat), climbed/fluttered to the cords anchoring the balloon to the ground.

With a few flicks of the beak and claws, the ropes severed and the balloon gently began to ascend, Tony and Jim hurrying into the basket to avoid getting left behind. Some of the folks in charge of tending to the balloons noticed the strange escapade and came running after, shouting for its occupants to get back down.

Well, at least until Abby threw off her hat and let it flutter down to Earth, waving her hand merrily like someone being seen off on a departing cruise ship.

"Don't worry! We'll send ya the receipt!"

The humans simply watched on gobsmacked, enough that the discarded hat landed neatly upon one of their heads without their notice. _This _was a sight they sure wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Nor would it be the only one they'd see today.

Unbeknownst to the forest animals, Dwayne had been tailing them, decked out in a costume of his own design. Unfortunately, said design left much to be desired. For one thing, the black trench coat and matching top-hat not only attracted attention like a bug zapper, it also kept tripping him with every step he took.

Sounds counterproductive? Good because that's exactly what the Verminator intended, believe it or not. Deception and misdirection would be key here. He'd fumble around, making a complete fool himself and convincing everybody of his apparent incompetence. And then, wham! Taser the bears when their guard was down!

The perfect trap-trap; after all, who would ever expect a trap-trap?

Granted, he hadn't planned on his targets making use of one of the hot-air balloons but no matter. If they wished to sail the skies, then so would he! Rolling from stand to stand Black-Op style, Dwayne peeked out to discover his quarry's balloon already taking off.

_'__Think you can slip past the ol' Verminator, huh?'_

He spied a nearby green balloon with blue stripes and stealthily hopped aboard, pulling out a pocketknife and doing away with the anchoring ropes. However, he neglected to account for the wind direction before taking off for at that moment a strong gust suddenly ran across the plan, including the festival grounds. Whereas the animals had risen high enough to unknowingly avoid it, Dwayne ended up being dragged in the opposite direction, the man struggling with the ropes to steer the accursed mode of transport the other way.

"Gah, for the love of—that's it!"

Eventually, he desperately resorted to increasing the flow of hot air going into the balloon...only to miscalculate the amount of oomph in his hand and end up jettisoning the balloon straight into the upper troposphere, him as the hapless passenger screaming all the way upward.

It'd be a while until he'd see land again.

Back at the gang's balloon, Jim perked his ears at something and shifted his vision around seconds after Dwayne shot by in the distance. The rat turned his head back to his friends.

"Did ya'll hear something?"

Everyone else shook their heads no, just as oblivious. Abby, after she and Vincent relieved themselves of their constricting disguises, clapped her hands with her usual smile. "Okay! Operation Balloon Heist: success! Now onto the next phase!"

Tony and Vincent shared an uncertain look.

"Since when do we have phases?" the blue jay queried in a bemused tone.

Abby shrugged. "I just thought it'd make things a little more fun. Anyway, did you and Tony get the map from one of the shops, Vince?"

The bear pulled out a roll of map from the inside of his blazer, smirking. "What did ya expect?"

Getting down to his knees and pinning the map to the floor so it wouldn't fly away, he turned his snout towards the Midwestern part of the USA image. "Okay. With the current wind speed and our amount of fuel, we oughta be at Camelot Estates in about half-a-day, just in time for winter with a little time to spare."

_'__Sounds like we're ahead of schedule then.' _Abby thought with an agreeable nod. _'_"Seems like you and me'll have to crash some place to hibernate the minute we get there."

Vincent waved a dismissive forepaw. "Don't worry. We'll just take my old cave."

Tony's face twisted in concern at that idea. "Old cave? So you actually lived near that area before?"

The air in Vincent's throat constricted instantly, his eyes larger than dinner plates now. God, he felt so idiotic! What possessed him to say that cave belonged to him?

"Um..."

"You gotta admit, it makes sense," interjected Abby of all animals, "He had to have lived near wherever Richie is to know where to find him."

It took all of Vincent's willpower not to sigh in relief. God, that lady was a lifesaver, even if she didn't know it.

Though Tony narrowed his eyes skeptically, he did not proceed to contradict his friend's judgement. After all, Abby's intuition tended to be right on (usually). All the same, the blue jay hadn't forgotten that Vincent never explained how he knew RJ in the first place; had those two been friends or what?

In fact, the blue jay wondered if Abby and Jim ever questioned that as well, especially the former. Then again, the bearess tended to be surprisingly knowledgeable when you least expected her to be. And Jim had a thing for fooling people into believing his senile ruse.

Speaking of Jim, the wizened rat hopped atop the map and addressed his friends with an unusually stern gaze, "Now let's get down ta business! We gunna be needin' ta take night shifts to make sure this here balloon stays on course an' not too high from the ground. Otherwise we'll be mo' blind than a bat with earplugs."

Deciding against commenting on the irrelevance of that metaphor to their situation, Tony nodded in agreement instead. "So who wants first shift?"

Jim raised his hand without hesitation.

"Alright, Jim will take the first watch. Second shift?"

In the end, the shifts evened out this way: Jim, Vincent, Abby, and then finally Tony, leaving the ursines and avian time to get some shuteye. Jim clapped his hands with a perky grin—"Alrighty then, ya'll sleep tight now"- before crawling up one of the ropes connecting the basket to the balloon.

"Night, guys," Abby yawned as she laid down in one corner.

"Night, Abby," Tony returned, roosting in another.

Vincent merely grunted with his arms crossed over his burly chest, sitting with his back to one of the basket's woven walls so that when his turn come up, he'd awake up quick. Like the other two, he fell asleep fast.

Jim cast a tenderhearted sight over his three juniors then directed his eyes forward. The afternoon had steadily bled into evening, the scarlet and carnation twinges of sunlight gradually fading in the distance, a sight the rat regarded with a steady gaze.

_'__Ain't gonna be easy, but we gunna make it.' _He patted his rope as if to comfort it. _'We gunna make it.'_

* * *

><p><em>Unit Alpha activated and online.<em>

_Unit Omega activated and online._

_Spawners established and within range._

_Preparing post-winter protocol._

_Warning! Warning! Vermin approaching!_

_Affirmative. Initiating defensive sequence._

* * *

><p><em>A couple of hours later...<em>

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

Vincent promptly yet gently pushed Abby away to cease the rough incessant shaking that consisted his rude awakening. "Alright! Alright! _Alright!" _Griping to himself, he stood up while popping his spine free of any cricks. Squinting in the dimness of early morning, he looked over the side of the basket and his eyes widened a bit in surprise.

Camelot Estates. Huh, they arrived sooner than he expected then. He anticipated their arrival wouldn't be until noon or late morning. Maybe the wind picked up during the night. In any event, they were ahead of schedule, so even better; now they just needed to find some place to land, preferably somewhere near his old cave.

"So which way to your old crib?" Tony asked.

Vincent opened his mouth, about to reply...when something suddenly whizzed past his head, followed by the sound of something else getting punctured...something very close by and above everyone's heads. Full of dread, the bear and his companions reluctantly turned their eyes upward.

A small gaping and hissing hole in the side of their balloon. The shot got them! And there were more where that came from, evidenced by the sudden barrage that immediately followed, forcing everyone to hit the deck.

"We're under fire!" Tony shouted.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Vincent snapped back.

A few seconds into the assault, Abby noticed something odd about the projectiles (some of which had landed into the basket instead of in the balloon) and, out of curiosity, picked one of them up from the floor. Her face contorted in perplexity the longer she observed the object, her friends looking on with similar countenances.

"Acorns?" She looked to the other animals. They shrugged their shoulders. Were they being attacked by vengeful squirrels and chipmunks?

Whoever they were, they were showing no mercy. Already, the balloon had begun losing significant altitude due to the amount of air rapidly being lost. Abby and Vincent tried their hardest to direct their transport out of the line of fire, the latter shouting out directions and hoping they'd get to their destination before they crashed.

"Don't we have anything to for a counterattack?!" Tony ducked back in to avoid another acorn. Flying for him would be out of the question under these conditions.

"Like what?!" Vincent shot back.

Inspiration flashed across Abby's face. _'I got it!'_

Balling up each of the articles of clothing leftover from her and Vincent's costumes, the bearess proceeded to sling them overboard, making sure to duck every time acorns came her way. Unfortunately, her "ammo" ran out fairly quickly, leaving her with empty paws and three befuddled males.

"Well, it worked for a while."

Vincent shook his head in wonder. "You are one weird woman, ya know that?"

"At least they're not firing at us anymore."

"Up high!" Jim suddenly cried.

Tony fixed the southern rat with an inquisitive gaze, noting how the small mammal held his hands up. "Uh Jim, don't ya think celebrating would be a little premature—"

"No," the rodent grabbed the bird's head and forced it so that Tony's eyes could see, said eyes going huger than Jupiter the second they caught the upcoming mountain, "_that _up high!"

Abby and Vincent, jaws agape, shared an expression of foreboding before looking back to their collision course, knowing there was no way they'd be able to dodge in time. That is, until Vincent caught sight of a familiar cave entrance.

"Abby, let out more air! If we time it right, we could—"

_PHOOP! PHOOP! PHOOP!_

_TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!_

All four animals stared up at the utterly mangled balloon, now full of too many holes to count.

Abby squeaked, "Oh..."

And Vincent groaned, "Crap."

Like Dwayne, everyone screamed right up to—

**_BOOM!_**

...

When the sun broke the horizon, its light fell upon a rather haphazard scene: a colorfully decorated balloon limp and hanging all over the space in front of the cave's entryway, where the basket subsequently tipped over upon impact, spilling out two battered bears.

As Abby and Vincent slowly came to, a fluttering of wings sounded in the heavy silence. Down came Tony, struggling a bit to the weight of the rat he carried in his talons. Once they landed, Tony promptly released Jim and dropped to the rocky floor to rest his wings.

"Ugh, times like these make me thankful to be a bird."

Jim dusted himself off, not as worse for wear as the others. "That went pretty darn well."

Abby cracked her neck as she achingly sat up. "I've had rougher landings." A look off to her side revealed Vincent getting up as well, though not without a few irritated grumbles as per usual. "Not the best homecoming but we all made it in piece...individually I mean."

_'__Yeah, home sweet home, I guess,' _Vincent mused. After everything's he been through and seen, being back here really didn't give the same sense of ease or content it used to. Not comfortable mulling around, he walked into his cave, scoffing in a bittersweet way at empty corner where his food stash once stood.

_'__It figures. You get sent to the Rockies and everybody's at your doorstep to rob ya of food.'_

On the other hand, the lack of food gave Vincent some assurance. No one seemed to have taken this place for themselves; otherwise there would've been piles of food laying around somewhere. His nose twitched at a white flake that gently landed upon it from above. Alongside Abby, Vincent shifted his gaze skyward to witness the snowfall of the season.

Perfect, the bear rued with an exhausted grimace and shake of his head. Some timing they had.

"Brr!" Tony shivered while hopping like mad into the cave, the other quickly following suit. If not for his loyalty and concern for the others, he would've migrated south by now. "Lady Fortuna must be smiling upon us today! A few more seconds an' we would've been Popsicles!"

For once, Vincent did not bother to contradict the blue jay. They must have been blessed to have landed near shelter just in time for winter. Hibernation, however, might be something of a challenge. Jim and Tony had nothing to worry for marginally since the rat was small and the bird did not have to concern himself with sleeping through winter.

In fact, Vincent already noticed out of the corner of his eye the two longtime friends conversing in the back.

But he and Abby—the bear shook his head to dispel his burdening thoughts. It wasn't like they couldn't wake up every now and then during the cold season. And besides, the two of them managed to eat plenty of food during their trip (hopefully).

_'__We'll just hafta tough it out, is all. Didn't think I'd ever think this, but...we're gonna be just fine.'_

"Hey Vince?" Once Abby got the male's attention, she stuck her left paw at him, her pinky claw extended.

"What are you—"

"Pinkie Promise," she replied, "One that says we'll see each other again after this." Because she knew they'd have to part ways afterward. Vincent had done what he'd promised. The rest was up to her, Tony, and Jim. And yet she liked to believe this would not be the last they see of each other.

To the sow's great relief, Vincent chuckled and returned the gesture, hooking the claw of his pinky with Abby's own. Against all odds, he shared the same belief as her because he shared her hope.

"Pinkie Promise."

Because after everything they've been through together so far, he would gladly take whatever he could get.


End file.
